ISLAMABAD: The federal government has sought suspension of an order of the Islamabad High Court (IHC) against the promotions of bureaucrats and has approached the court in this regard.

IHC Justice Aamir Farooq, after preliminary hearing of the petition issued notices to civil servants who had challenged the said promotions.

The promotions had been recommended in May by the Central Selection Board (CSB).

At least 64 other bureaucrats filed petitions with the IHC against the promotions, stating that they were denied promotions despite their eligibility because of a ‘controversial’ formula introduced by the federal government in 2012.

On July 27, Justice Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui of the IHC set aside the promotions of over 300 bureaucrats and directed the federal government to revise the promotion criteria and re-consider the promotions of those officers whose name has been deferred during the recent CSB meeting. The court also declared that “the entire process carried out by the CSB on the basis of the formula is illegal.”

The government introduced the formula enabling the CSB to assign 15 per cent marks and setting 85 per cent marks for the overall performance of the officer.

The judge directed the Establishment Division to “reframe the formula by taking away the overriding effect of the marks to be awarded by the CSB and categorise the civil servants within one month.”

The CSB had the discretion to award 15 marks, keeping in view the integrity and personal reputation of the officers. In some special cases, the board gave nine additional marks to the officers who were above 58 years of age and could not attend the mandatory staff college course (for promotions from grade 18-22) due to unavoidable circumstances.

Moreover, a notice issued on February 10, 2014, allotted 15 marks to the discretion of the CSB while five marks were allotted for integrity/general reputation/perception. Through the circular, the government empowered the board to not recommend the promotion of a bureaucrat who fails to obtain a minimum of three out of five marks.

The federal government through the additional attorney general (AAG) Afnan Karim Kundi stated that the “the reasons behind the short order are not yet known and only a detailed judgment would enable the applicants (federal government) to adequately formulate the questions of law”.

It further said that Justice Siddiqui had directed the federal government to process the promotion cases of the civil servants afresh within a month, which is a shorter period than the 60 days time limitation for filing an appeal before the Supreme Court.

The government’s petition contended that it intends to file an appeal against the IHC’s order before the Supreme Court and requested the court to issue a restraining order against the execution of the said order.

The court adjourned further hearing in this matter till August 7.

Published in Dawn, August 4th, 2015

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