HYDERABAD: Sindh High Court’s principal seat in Karachi on Wednesday suspended till Dec 22 the operation of federal energy ministry’s Nov 26 notification for the removal of Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Hyderabad Electric Supply Company (Hesco) Rehan Hamid.

A single bench of Justice Zulfiqar Ahmed Khan passed the order on a constitutional petition filed by Mr Hamid through Rafiq Ahmed Kalwar advocate, and noted that the petitioner’s counsel had submitted that his client was appointed as CEO in June 2021.

He said the federal ministry (power division) had issued the impugned notification to remove Mr Hamid who had applied for post of CEO in response to an advertisement by chairman of the Board of Directors (BoD) Hesco in January 2021 and the BoD had recommended his appointment for three years on June 1, 2021.

He said that as per agreement, only Hesco had authority to terminate the CEO’s employment in case of reasons as mentioned in clause 10 of the Employment Agreement.

On Nov 4, the petitioner applied to the BoD for leave to attend wedding of his daughter in Canada and the leave, starting from Nov 8, was approved, he said.

But to his dismay he learnt that he was removed as Hesco CEO by the ministry through a notification on Nov 26 without giving any reason and replaced with Noor Ahmed Soomro as CEO under another notification, he said.

He said the impugned notifications were totally ultra vires. Hesco alone was competent authority to terminate his services in case of breach of agreement, conviction or acts falling within the definition of moral turpitude but in the instant case he was performing duties to the satisfaction of BoD thus there was no reason warranting the termination under clause 10 of the agreement, he said.

He said that acts of the defendant ministry were in violation of Section 24-A of General Clauses Act, 1987, which provided that an authority vested with power was bound to exercise the same justly, fairly, reasonably and for the advancement of purpose being vested therein.

He said the impugned notifications were in violation of Article 9 of the Constitution which ensured security of a person that could not be envisaged in an environment of lawlessness, unfairness and exploitation as was being created by the defendants.

He said that no reason was mentioned in the impugned notifications of his termination and urged the court to declare the Nov 26 notifications as ultra vires, beyond authority and jurisdiction of the ministry. He should, therefore, be granted ad interim relief by suspending the two notifications, he said.

The counsel said that Hesco was one of distribution companies regulated by its own constitution. It was lately incorporated as a Limited Liability Company governed by a BoD of which only three directors came from government sector. This mechanism had been set up to bring efficiency to the system, he said.

He contended that such abrupt termination was in violation of the petitioner’s contract of service, Public Sector Guidelines, 2015 and provisions of Companies Act and it was on the face of it mala fide.

According to him, the bench issued notices to defendants and attorney general to appear in court on Dec 22 while suspending operation of the impugned notifications.

Published in Dawn, December 2nd, 2021