PESHAWAR: Peshawar High Court (PHC) has rejected a petition filed by more than 50 contractual employees of Women University Swabi, seeking regularisation of their services.

The petition was filed by faculty and administrative staffers of the university through Advocate Tanveer Ahmed Mughal. Barrister Syed Saad Ali Shah represented the university.

A two-member bench of PHC comprising senior pusine judge Justice Ijaz Anwar and Justice Sahibzada Asadulalh in its detailed judgement stated that petitioners had also applied for their appointment pursuant to the recruitment process and made participation to compete, wherein some of them passed the test as well, so on that score too their petition was liable to be dismissed.

“The learned counsel for the petitioners failed to make a case for the indulgence of this court. Hence, the instant writ petition having been not maintainable as well as meritless stands dismissed,” the bench ruled.

Petition was filed jointly by more than 50 contractual staffers of the university

The bench reaffirmed the principle that contractual appointments did not confer an automatic right to permanent absorption unless explicitly provided under law.

The petitioners contended that they had been serving the university for an extended period on sanctioned posts and, therefore, deserved to be regularised. However, the court found that their initial appointments had been made on a contract basis without undergoing an open and competitive selection process, as required by law.

The bench observed that the petitioners failed to establish any statutory entitlement to regularisation and their claims could not override the university’s obligation to ensure merit-based hiring.

Representing the university, Barrister Syed Saad Ali Shah argued that public sector appointments must adhere to due process, transparency and open competition, as mandated by law. The university maintained that granting regularisation without following a lawful recruitment process would set a precedent contrary to established legal principles and rulings of Supreme Court.

The bench also pointed out wherever a citizen sought relief in constitutional jurisdiction, he must point to a right statutory and constitutional, which vested in him and had denied in violation of law. It said that the statutes, terms and conditions of the appointment order of the petitioners and the law in general were silent on the matter of regularisation of a contractual or fixed pay employee.

The ruling also highlighted the fact that some petitioners had already participated in fresh recruitment processes advertised by the university, further weakening their claim to regularisation without competition.

The ruling is expected to serve as a precedent for other public sector institutions facing similar legal challenges regarding regularisation of employees.

Published in Dawn, March 11th, 2025