LAHORE: A Lahore High Court division bench on Monday suspended an order of a single bench regarding reinstatement of 452 employees of Punjab Land Records Authority (PLRA).

A single bench comprising Justice Ali Baqar Najafi had reinstated 452 service centre officials (SCOs) of the PLRA as they were terminated in violation of rules.

The authority had challenged the decision before the division bench through an intra-court appeal pleading that the terminated employees failed to qualify a re-evaluation test.

The authority’s legal adviser submitted that the posts of SCOs were filled through departmental recruitments. The eligibility criteria for such posts were bachelor’s degree, diploma in computer handling and a minimum typing speed of 40 words per minute.

However, he said the criteria were overlooked during the recruitment of 452 SCOs and incapable candidates were selected on the posts, allegedly due to corruption and nepotism.

The lawyer said the incumbent PLRA director general after assuming charge of office took strict notice of the recruitments and ordered a comprehensive departmental inquiry. Only 38 SCOs could qualify the re-evaluation process and a first information report was also registered against the culprits involved in illegal appointment and the case referred to Anti-Corruption Establishment for further inquiry.

He told the court that the PLRA director general after holding a departmental inquiry passed an order to terminate the contracts of these 452 SCOs. The counsel asked the court to set aside the decision of the single bench.

The two-judge bench suspended the impugned decision and issued notices to the other side for Sept 29.

Before the single bench, the terminated employees had contended that they had been sacked before the expiry of their contracts. They questioned the procedure adopted by the authority for their termination for being illegal and in violation of fundamental rights.

Published in Dawn, September 19th, 2017