PESHAWAR: A senior journalist on Tuesday moved the Peshawar High Court against the appointment of a Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf office-bearer as the provincial government’s media adviser, insisting it’s politically motivated and against merit.

He prayed that the court direct the information ministry to cancel the July 7 appointment and appoint him to the post for being second on merit list.

Shaukat Hayat, who currently works with a foreign news agency as reporter, is among the candidates interviewed for the adviser’s post.

He insisted the name of Najiullah Khattak, vice president of the PTI in Karak district, was included in the list of candidates 40 days after the deadline to submit applications ended.

The petitioner said he did his masters in journalism and mass communication in 1999-2001, began his career as reporter in a leading English newspaper and later served in key posts of major media organisations.

He said currently, he worked as reporter in a foreign wire service.

The petitioner said the provincial government had invited applications for appointment to the post of the adviser on media and mass communication through an advertisement on Dec 6, 2013 and that the last date to submit applications was Dec 19, 2013.

He said he and other candidates were shortlisted before letters for interview were issued to them but Najiullah was not among them.

The petitioner claimed the information secretary and director later included the name of Najiullah in the list and got him appointed the media adviser on July 7 in violation of merit and on political consideration though he didn’t possess the requisite qualifications.

He said Najiullah claimed that he held the master’s degree in business administration from Philippine Christian University, but during the days shown as university days, he served in the British Council and the National Institute of Business Management.

The petitioner said the selected candidate possessed the bachelor’s degree with second division but was given marks of first division in an act of undue favouritism by the government.

He said inclusion of Najiullah’s name in the list of shortlisted candidates and that, too, after the last date to submit applications clearly showed the information secretary and director were bent upon appointing him the adviser without caring for merit.

Published in Dawn, July 23rd, 2014