PESHAWAR: Peshawar High Court has directed the director general of mines and minerals to conduct an inquiry into appointment of four low ranking employees in the department allegedly on directives of the then chief minister in Swat in 2020.

A bench consisting of Justice Mohammad Naeem Anwar and Justice Shahid Khan disposed of a petition jointly field by two of the candidates for the posts of Class-IV employees, claiming that the said four persons were appointed on political grounds.

The bench directed the director general to conduct the inquiry and strictly proceed with the matter in accordance with law.

In its reply, the Employment Exchange Commission, Swat, also admitted that the names of the four respondents were included in the list provided to the department for the purpose of recruitment on the orders received from Chief Minister’s House.

Petitioners claim recruitments made on political grounds

“The record made available before this court would transpire that in the light of direction of this court given in writ petition No.754-M/ 2020, the official respondents called the petitioners for interview but did not consider them for appointment against the post of Class-IV, despite having higher qualification and instead issued appointment orders in favour of the private respondents,” the bench observed.

The bench observed that the manager of Employment Exchange had also admitted the fact in his comments as well as before the court on January 30, 2024, that names of the four private respondents had been included in the requisite list on the direction of the then chief minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

The petitioners named Mohammad Abid and Ziaullah had requested the court to set aside the appointment of the four respondents and they might be appointed against the said posts as they were having higher qualification than the appointed respondents.

The petitioners’ counsel Sanaullah stated that his clients registered themselves with Employment Exchange, Swat, on January 21, 2020. He said that in response to demand of the director general mines and minerals on February 3, 2020, the manager of employment exchange submitted list of registered candidates on February 18.

He stated that subsequently the list submitted on February 18, 2020, which included the names of the petitioners, was changed and another list was furnished by the employment exchange wherein their names were deleted.

The counsel said that the petitioners then approached the high court against not calling them for test and interview. He added that in that petition, the court granted interim relief to them and directed that the petitioners should be called for interviews at their own cost and risk.

He argued that the inclusion of the petitioners in the interview turned out to be eyewash as persons having lesser qualification than they were appointed as Class-IV employees.

He contended that the appointment of the four respondents by the department was pre-planned and for benefitting them the list of candidates provided to the department was changed by the employment exchange.

The director general of mines and minerals opposed the contention of the petitioners and stated that they were called for interview in accordance with the order of the court.

In his comments, he said that the interviews were conducted by a departmental selection committee, which selected the most suitable candidates for the posts.

Published in Dawn, April 22nd, 2024