ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court on Tuesday suspended the notification of the Sindh government for the appointment of Atta Mohammad Panwar as a member of the Malir Development Authority (MDA).

“In the intervening period, the notification of Atta Mohammad Panwar, as member Malir Development Authority, shall remain suspended,” a two-judge Supreme Court bench headed by Justice Amir Hani Muslim said.

The court had taken up the contempt of court petition of Imran Sahito, but taking notice of the irregular appointment of Mr Panwar also decided to summon the federal secretary establishment, Sindh chief secretary and services secretary on Wednesday to explain how Mr Panwar could be retained in service by the Sindh government unilaterally by notifying him as a member of the MDA once he had been repatriated to the federal government on the directives of the court.

The court also ordered to hand over a copy of the court order to Sarwar Khan, the Additional Advocate General (AAG) for Sindh, to communicate the same to all officers concerned of the province.

The appointment of Mr Panwar came to the notice of the court when during the proceedings, it inquired from the Sindh AAG as to who had been notified as a member of the MDA. In response, the AAG explained that Mr Panwar had been appointed as a member of the MDA.

At this the court asked how Mr Panwar could be retained in the Sindh government once he had been repatriated to his parent department in the federal government in compliance with the 2013 judgement of this court that called for the repatriation of officers on deputation to their parent departments.

The court noted that Mr Panwar had also instituted an appeal against the 2013 Supreme Court verdict but that was dismissed on Jan 5, 2015.

However, the AAG came up with the justification that Mr Panwar was retained with the Sindh government when the Establish­ment Division refused to accept him.

The court was told that the Establishment Division through a letter to the provincial government had stated that the law ministry had suggested that Mr Panwar could be appointed in the Sindh government.

Subsequently, the Sindh services secretary floated a summary on his own to retain Mr Panwar in the provincial government. The summary was routed through the chief secretary and was approved by the chief minister.

“We are at a loss to understand as to how the orders of this court are defeated to accommodate the persons by circumventing the process,” the court regretted.

The court asked for a complete record of the summary instituted to appoint Mr Panwar and observed that the provincial government deliberately adopted the pick-and-choose policy in appointing wrong people.

The court will resume the hearing on Wednesday.

Published in Dawn, August 17th, 2016