KARACHI, Nov 3: The Sindh High Court ordered the federal government on Monday to grant pro-forma promotion to an officer of the military lands and cantonments service in accordance with his seniority with retrospective effect till his retirement in 2007.

Petitioner Sultan Khalid Masood Khattak submitted that he joined the cantonments service after qualifying the 1972 central superior services examination. He was dismissed from service on a ‘trivial’ charge in February 2001 while serving in grade 18. Meanwhile, in the year 2000, the central selection board deferred his case for promotion to grade 19 because of the inquiry proceedings then pending against him. He challenged his dismissal before the federal service tribunal, which allowed his appeal and reinstated him in February 2006 with retrospective effect and ‘all back benefits’.

Arguing the petition before a division bench consisting of Chief Justice Anwar Zaheer Jamali and Justice Khwaja Naveed Ahmed, Advocate Raghib Baqi, the petitioner’s counsel, submitted that the FST order in favour of ‘back benefits’ included his promotion to grade 19 and higher grades in accordance with his seniority. The petitioner sought pro-forma promotions when he retired from service in 2007 but his plea was rejected. The lawyer said a government servant could be granted pro-forma promotions if he was deprived of them for none of his fault. A federal attorney who represented the respondent conceded that the selection board deferred the petitioner’s promotion case in 2000 for the sole reason that an inquiry was pending against him.

The bench held that after his reinstatement in service, the petitioner was entitled to be considered for promotion/s but his case was not apparently taken up by the board after his dismissal from service till his retirement. ‘Promotion’ was evidently excluded from ‘back benefits’.