PESHAWAR: Around 70 officers of Provincial Management Service (PMS) have moved Peshawar High Court, challenging the last’s year amendments made in the civil service rules and a recent notification of federal government whereby the share of Pakistan Administrative Service (PAS) cadre officers was increased in the scheduled posts in the four provinces.

The petition is jointly filed by a deputy secretary, Jibreel Raza, and 71 other officers, requesting the court to declare the impugned SRO issued by the establishment division on October 14, 2020, and a subsequent notification issued on March 12, 20212, as illegal and liable to be struck down.

They request the high court to declare further that no amendments could be made in the Civil Service of Pakistan (Composition and Cadre) Rules, 1954, in relation to the increase of seats of PAS in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa without the consultation of the province, which could only be done through concurrence of the provincial government, provincial assembly and the governor of the province.

The petitioners claimed that without any constitutional authority, the federal government transgressed upon the exclusive rights of provincial civil servants to be appointed to the posts in connection with the affairs of the province.

Request court to declare illegal increase in quota of PAS in province

They stated that the impugned notification (SRO) gave establishment division and prime minister or any person authorised by him the power to make appointments to purely provincial posts ranging from chief secretary of the provinces down to officers in BPS-17.

They added that the role given to the provinces was only a consultative one.

Respondents in the petition are: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government through its chief secretary, KP establishment department through its secretary, KP Public Service Commission through its chairman, federal establishment division through its secretary, secretaries of law and justice and cabinet divisions, and Federal Public Service Commission through its chairman.

The petition is filed through a panel of lawyers including Ali Gohar Durrani, Zarak Arif Shah and Babar Khan Durrani.

The petitioners contended that the impugned SRO was in violation of section 25(1) of Civil Servant Act, 1973, as that Act did not authorise the federal government to make rules related top provincial posts.

They stated that on October 14, the President of Pakistan issued the SRO on the recommendation of federal government through establishment division.

They claimed that establishment division effectively usurped for itself the right to periodically re-determine and possibly reduce the share of seats available to provincial civil servants in the upper echelons of the provincial bureaucracy.

They stated that subsequent to the impugned SRO, the establishment division issued another notification on March 12, 2021, whereby the cadre strength of PAS was unilaterally changed at the expense of the seats and strength of PMS officers of the provinces.

The petitioners stated that the original text of the CSP Rules 1954 provided for “consultation” with the provinces in Rule 17. The consultation has to be made before any change is made in the cadre schedule of the rules.

They said that the notification violated Article 97 and 137 of Constitution whereby federal government could not exercise executive authority over appointments to provincial post, a subject which fell outside federal legislative ambit.

They said that Article 240 of Constitution made it clear that the appointments and terms and conditions of service of persons, who occupied posts in connection with the affairs of a province, was purely a provincial subject and only provincial assembly could legislate on the subject.

Published in Dawn, April 26th, 2021