PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court has declared illegal the appointment of a member of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Public Service Commission by the provincial government.

A bench consisting of Justice Mohammad Naeem Anwar and Justice Kamran Hayat Miankhel pronounced a short order to accept the petition of lawyer Awais Khan, who had challenged the appointment of retired civil servant Asghar Ali as a KPPSC member by the provincial government through a notification issued on Jan 16, 2025.

The petitioner had requested the court to declare that the impugned appointment by the government is illegal and without lawful authority. He also sought orders for the governor to fill the post in accordance with the law.

The respondents in the petition included the KP government through its chief secretary, KP governor, establishment secretary, the KPPSC through its chairman and member Asghar Ali.

Advocate Lajbar Khan Khalil appeared for the petitioner and said that the affairs of the KPPSC were governed through the KPPSC Ordinance, 1978.

He added that the composition of the commission, terms of office of the members and functions of the commission were also covered by that ordinance.

The lawyer argued that Section 3(3) of the ordinance provided that the chairman and other members should be appointed by the governor.

He said that on Jan 16, 2025, the chief secretary had issued the impugned notification to appoint Mr Asghar Ali as the member of the commission.

Mr Khalil contended that the office of the KPPSC’s member was an important public office, which was rendering functions bearing direct implications on the public affairs.

He argued that as the appointing authority for the said statutory post was the governor and the provincial government lacked the powers to make such appointments and as such the impugned notification was nullity in the eyes of the law.

The counsel insisted that by issuing that notification, the government had violated due process of law, fairness and principle of transparency due to which the interference of the court was required.

He contended that Asghar Ali had been unlawfully occupying the statutory office for not being appointed by the competent authority, so the impugned notification was liable to be struck down.

Published in Dawn, December 18th, 2025