LAHORE: The Lahore High Court has dismissed a writ petition challenging extension in employment contract of Dr Rizwan Naseer as director general of the Punjab Emergency Services (Rescue 1122).

Justice Ayesha A Malik had last week reserved her verdict on the petition filed by District Emergency Officer, Lahore, Dr Ahmad Raza. The judge issued the verdict on Thursday.

The verdict stated that the petitioner has been aggrieved by the decisions of the respondent, Dr Naseer, with respect to disciplinary action on various grounds. He was also terminated by the respondent, however, he was reinstated through an order by the appellate authority.

The judge observes that the petitioner appears to have some personal grudge against the respondent, which appears to be the motivating factor for filing the instant petition.

Furthermore, the judge notes that the competent authority extended the contract of the respondent for a period of one year with a decision that no further extension will be granted and the process for initial recruitment against the post of DG Rescue 1122 shall commence in accordance with law.

“Hence, the matter has been duly considered by the competent authority and as such the petitioner has failed to set out a case against the respondent,” Justice Malik observed, dismissing the petition.

The petitioner through his counsel Ch Shoaib Saleem had argued that the respondent had been appointed for more than five times as DG of the Rescue 1122 in past, which showed that only he was found to be eligible for the post from across the province and there was no other person capable enough to run the affairs of organisation.

He said the last contract of the respondent expired on Oct 16, 2019 after which he no more remained an official and had nothing to do with the organisation.

However, he said, after almost 80 days of expiry of the contract, the home department illegally extended the contract of the respondent on Jan 6, 2020. Whereas, he said, a summary for extension of the respondent’s contract or reappointment was still pending with the provincial secretary services.

He said the chief minister had also ordered an inquiry into issuance of the impugned notification without approval of the summary.

Published in Dawn, July 17th, 2020