HYDERABAD: A division bench of the Sindh High Court Hyderabad circuit on Thursday directed the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to make appointment on the vacancy of director law, a BS-19 post, on merit as per Recruitment Rules and conduct fresh interviews of the original candidates without due result declaration within in three months.

A petition was filed by Mohammad Nadeem Tagar, a lawyer, against the chairman of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), ECP director (establishment), ECP Director Law Yasir Raja and two others to challenge the appointment of Raja on the post.

He was represented by Ghulam Mohiuddin Panhwar advocate. According to his case, the respondents announced a vacancy of director law in July 2022 and he appeared for the test and was declared qualified for an interview.

He said the respondents did not announce its result with mala fide intent and without cancelling the July 2022 process for the appointment, published a new advertisement on Feb 28, 2023. He again qualified the written test but the department did not announce its result. The respondents without cancelling the said appointment process gave the third advertisement on July 28, 2023. The petitioner was again declared successful in the test and received an interview letter dated May 21, 2024.

Petitioner claims to be rightful for post

He stated that the respondents again without announcing the result of the interview published the fourth ad in Sept 2024 for the same post. He applied for the post and was declared successful and invited for an interview through a Sept 25, 2024 letter. He passed the interview, but the respondents did not disclose the result for the tests conducted by them.

His petition filed in 2023 was dismissed and the respondents filed comments to misguide court with concealment of facts. The respondents relied upon a notification of the ECP dated Oct 11, 2022 which was issued with mala fide intent only to revise method of appointment after the July 2022 ad.

He filed a fresh petition this year and termed the appointment of the respondent director law as illegal because the petitioner was entitled for it.

Comprising Justice Adnanul Karim Memon and Justice Riazat Ali Sahar, the bench heard the case on Nov 27 and announced its judgement on Thursday. It said the ECP Officers & Servants Rules 1989 empowers the administrative department to determine methods and qualifications for recruitment in public service.

The court noted that the petitioner cleared the written tests and interviews in response to the four ads, but no result was announced yet.

The court said denial of results and repeated advertisements breach legitimate expectation of the candidates and the subsequent appointment on contract basis from another province is an erroneous decision in terms of the advertisement which shows the domicile on merit.

“Mid process changes to recruitment method, quotas or advertisement without valid justification and transparency constitute a mala fide exercise of power violating constitutional guarantees of equality and public trust,” read the order.

The court termed Oct 11, 2022 notification arbitrary and contrary to the principles of transparency, merit and equal opportunity to candidates.

It said: “Repeated readvertisements without declaring earlier results communicating to petitioner further deprived him from his rights therefore actions of respondents are liable to be annulled”. It directed the ECP to make appointment on the subject post based on merit as per Recruitment Rules and conduct fresh interviews of the original candidates without due result declaration in three months.

Published in Dawn, December 5th, 2025