January 09, 2008	Wednesday	Zilhaj 29, 1428

KARACHI, Jan 8: A law graduate in government employment must have five years’ experience as an advocate in order to qualify for recruitment to the prosecution service, the Sindh High Court held on Tuesday.

The ruling came on a petition moved by three law graduates who said they were eligible for appointment as assistant attorneys because they had put in five years or more of government service. They said according to the advertisement inviting applications, government employees were eligible. Besides under the civil service rules, their service with the government should be treated as their experience.

Additional Advocate-General Sarwar Khan said a bachelor’s degree in law and five years’ experience as a legal practitioner was the minimum prescribed qualification for the vacancies. A candidate, including a government employee, must possess the basic qualification before being considered for appointment as assistant attorney in the prosecution service. The permission for government employees in the advertisement meant that they could also apply provided they fulfilled the basic requirement.

The AAG said special rules had been made for the newly-created prosecution service to ensure its efficient working. The whole purpose of setting up a separate service would be defeated if it were allowed to be manned by inexperienced lawyers with no practical knowledge. The petitioners were not enrolled as advocates and their practical experience was confined to government service, he argued.

A division bench comprising Justices Nadeem Azhar Siddiqui and Rana M. Shamim dismissed all three petitions in limine.

Recruitment case

In another petition moved by an applicant to a vacancy in the prosecution service, the bench issued notices to the Sindh Public Service Commission and other respondents.

The petitioner said he was enrolled as an advocate in 1995 and later joined government service as a deputy district attorney. In response to an advertisement, he applied for the post of district attorney. He said he fully qualified for the post, particularly in view of his experience, but the Sindh Public Service Commission declared him ineligible.

The bench allowed the petitioner provisionally to appear in the written examination to be conducted for the post by the SPSC and issued notices to the respondents for a date in office.

‘Missing’ person

The Sindh High Court issued notices to provincial and federal attorneys in a petition alleging continued detention of a ‘missing’ person.

Petitioner Mohammad Faisal of Sharifabad stated in his petition that his brother, Mohammad Nadir, was picked up by four people riding a car in the Liaquatabad police station area in September last.

The abductors ‘looked’ like law enforcement personnel. His brother did not belong to any militant organization nor had a criminal case registered against him. The police had no knowledge of his whereabouts and his mother approached the high court.

A division bench, the petitioner said, passed an order on her mother’s petition asking the Liaquatabad deputy superintendent of police to trace Nadir and recover him. Nothing had been done by police to recover his brother or even ascertain his whereabouts despite lapse of one month.

A division bench comprising Justices Nadeem Azhar Siddiqui and Rana M. Shamim issued notices to the advocate-general and the deputy attorney-general for a date in office.