KARACHI: The Sindh High Court (SHC) on Monday once again restrained the Sindh government from making appointments in its over 140 departments, attached organisations and autonomous bodies on a lawsuit filed by the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P).

A single-judge bench headed by Justice Zafar Ahmed Rajput extended its earlier stay order till May 13.

The MQM-P had contended in its lawsuit filed in August last year that the then outgoing provincial government of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), its secretaries, departments, autonomous bodies etc., had unleashed a mala fide and unlawful campaign to fill thousands of vacancies without observing formalities by way of pre-poll rigging.

It alleged that the government jobs were dished out to its favorites and blue-eyed boys.

When Justice Rajput took up for hearing the lawsuit in question along with another connected suit on Monday, the counsel for one of the defendants sought adjournment on the ground that the lead counsel was busy before another bench of the SHC.

While adjourning the hearing, the bench in its order said: “Both the matters are adjourned to 13.05.2024 to be taken up at 11:30am. Interim order, if any passed earlier in these matters, shall continue till the next date of hearing. Office is directed to place a copy of this order in connected suit.”

At a previous hearing, almost all the defendant departments and autonomous bodies had filed statements in the light of a court order and stated that all recruitment processes had been suspended, advertisements withdrawn and no appointment had been made between June and August after the SHC issued a restraining order in August 2023.

The MQM-P through its convener Dr Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui had filed a suit in the SHC last year against filling thousands of vacancies allegedly without completing formalities and in violation of rules.

The lawyer for the plaintiff had asserted that those jobs were also required to be filled in accordance with Rules 14, 15 and 16 of the Sindh Civil Servant (Appointment, Promotion and Transfer) Rules 1974 and Sindh Public Commission Service Act, 2022.

However, he maintained that various departments, offices and other bodies of Sindh government had issued advertisements in July and August in a great haste with mala fide intention to complete the process of appointments illegally.

Citing the chief secretary of Sindh and around 150 others as respondents, the plaintiff stated that the entire exercise of appointments was nothing, but a mere sham, farcical and ‘the act flies in the face of common sense’ as the whole process is non-transparent and illegal since there is no written test and interview at all.

In August last year, the SHC through an interim order suspended the operation of all the advertisements, issued in July and August, impugned by the plaintiff and had restrained the authorities concerned from processing the recruitment in question till further orders.

The MQM-P had also filed another suit last year challenging the recruitment process in the Sindh Employees Social Security Institution (SESSI), and the SHC had clubbed both matters together for a joint hearing.

Published in Dawn, April 16th, 2024