PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court has issued a stay order, temporarily stopping the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa police from filling 151 constable posts, which were advertised for candidates from the Wazir sub-division in Bannu district but were mostly “shifted” to other units of the department.

A bench consisting of Justice Syed Arshad Ali and Justice Dr Khurshid Iqbal sought comments from the respondents including KP inspector general of police and additional inspector general (establishment) and Bannu’s regional police officer and district police officer to a petition that challenged a letter of the RPO about the “shifting” of 137 of the 151 advertised posts from the Wazir sub-division to the Frontier Reserve Police, counter-terrorism department, and Elite Force.

The petition is jointly filed by Sifatullah and 184 other candidates from the Wazir sub-division, claiming that they passed the tests conducted by the Education Testing and Evaluation Agency before being recommended for appointment as constables (BPS-7) but the impugned letter written by the Bannu RPO to the IGP on June 20, 2024, reduced the number of posts for the sub-division to 14.

They requested the court to declare illegal and void that letter and any action by the police department over it.

Petitioners insist positions advertised for Wazir sub-division ‘shifted’ to other units of department

The petitioners also requested the court to declare that they’re entitled to be appointed to the 151 advertised posts and that the respondents had no power to reduce the number of seats for the Wazir sub-division.

They added that the recruitment process for those positions was almost complete, with only appointment orders to be issued.

Counsel for the petitioners Bashir Khan Wazir said early this year, the police department invited online applications from candidates belonging to the tribal districts and some settled districts through an advertisement.

He said the Etea had published the number of vacancies according to which the vacancies of constables for the Wazir sub-division in Bannu were mentioned as 151.

The lawyer said the petitioners, belonging to the sub-division, had applied for the said posts and had participated in the written test, physical and psychological tests and interview.

He said after completion of the recruitment process through Etea the provisional merit list was issued and transmitted to the competent authority for onward issuance of appointment orders.

The counsel said that the regional selection board at Bannu had also recommended the petitioners for appointment.

He said surprisingly, on June 20, 2024, the impugned letter was issued by the RPO whereby the already advertised 151 posts of constables of the Wazir sub-division had been reduced and 137 of the posts were shifted to other units of the department.

The lawyer argued that since the process of recruitment was initiated for 151 posts of constables and the same was properly advertised, therefore the number of posts could not be reduced by the department, especially when the recruitment process had almost been completed.

He argued that after recommendation by the Etea, the petitioners had legitimate expectation for appointment and therefore, the said posts could not be shifted to any other place.

The bench observed that the question whether such a recommendation would entitle the petitioners with the right to seek appointment was to be resolved by it after obtaining comments from the respondents.

It fixed July 31 for the next hearing, directing the police department not to fill those posts until then.

Published in Dawn, July 17th, 2024