ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court decided on Friday to commence the hearing of a government plea seeking a review of its June 12, 2013, judgment which virtually has become a snag in the appointment of heads of some important government offices.

A three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice Nasir-ul-Mulk directed the court office to fix the plea for hearing on Sept 24.

The bench is hearing an application moved by Deputy Attorney General Sajid Ilyas Bhatti on behalf of the Drugs Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (Drap) in a pending suo motu case about the increase in drug prices.

On Thursday, the court had summoned Attorney General Salman Aslam Butt to explain why a drug pricing policy had not yet been formulated and why Drap was without a chief executive officer.

On Friday, the AG conceded the government’s inability to appoint the Drap CEO, but requested the court to revisit its 2013 verdict which had issued certain guidelines suggesting the appointment of heads of government offices through a system of commission.

The judgment obstructs appointment of heads of important offices

In a separate case relating to the appointment of chairman of the Federal Services Tribunal (FST) on July 24, the apex court had noted that the government had not filed any review petition against its judgment in the Khawaja Asif case, but it decided to constitute a five-judge larger bench to determine if the court could review the verdict on the government’s informal request.

The court had also decided that Justice Gulzar Ahmed and Justice Ijaz Chaudhry would be members of the larger bench whenever it was constituted because they were part of the bench which had issued the judgment in the Khawaja Asif case.

In its June 12, 2013 verdict, the court had ordered the constitution of a three-member commission comprising competent and independent members with impeccable integrity for the appointment of heads of government offices.

The court had observed that it was the fundamental right of a citizen under Article 9 of the Constitution that the national wealth and resources must remain fully protected whether under the control of banks or autonomous and semi-autonomous organisations. The commission should be mandated to ensure that all public sector appointments were made solely on merit.

On Friday, the court also asked advocates general to submit concise statements on the centre’s plea for the review of the 2013 judgment.

The heads of important government offices who are yet to be appointed are: Chief Election Commissioner, chairmen of FST, Export Processing Zone Authority, Federal Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education, Karachi Port Trust, Vocational and Technical Training Commission, Services Tribunal, Employees Review Board, Implementation of Tribunal of Newspaper Employees, Intellectual Property Rights Organisation, Pakistan Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, Pakistan Council of Research and Water Resources, Earthquake Reconstruction and Rehabilitation Authority, National Institute of Oceanography, National Trust Population Welfare, Council of Works and Housing Research and Science Foundation and director general of Pakistan Institute of Management, chief executive of Pakistan National Council of Arts, managing directors of Associated Press of Pakistan and National Trust for Disabled and director general of National Institute of Electronics.

Published in Dawn, September 20th , 2014