QUETTA: The Balochistan High Court restrained on Tuesday the Chairman of the Balochistan Public Service Commission, Ashraf Magsi, from taking part in interviews for jobs in government departments.

A division bench of the court, comprising Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhail and Justice Muhammed Ejaz Swati, issued the order while hearing a petition filed by Anwar Tareen, a member of the commission.

The petition argues that since Mr Magsi has completed his five-year tenure as the chairman of the commission, he is not authorised to continue working on the post.

Mr Tareen said that in an earlier order on an application, the court had restrained the chairman from joining committees conducting the interviews but he was still participating in the interviews and examinations for jobs, which was illegal.

Besides, he said, on an initiative of the Balochistan government, a judge was conducting an inquiry against Mr Magsi.

Therefore, he pleaded, Mr Magsi should be restrained from working as the chairman of the commission till the court announced final verdict on the petition.

The court restrained the chairman from taking part in the interviews till the next hearing of the petition on Oct 28. But, the order would not affect the routine process of interviews, it said.

Published in Dawn, October 1st , 2014