LAHORE, July 26: The Lahore High Court has ruled that contractual government employees, sacked without assigning any reason or notice, cannot seek remedy from courts after accepting the condition that their service can be terminated at any moment without giving any reason.

Justice Khurshid Anwar Bhindar decided this while dismissing the petition of a retired SP, Habib Ahmad Ghuman.

The petitioner told the court that his contractual appointment as SP regional investigation, Multan, was terminated without issuance of a show-cause notice. The judge observed that the petitioner accepted the appointment for three years with condition that his service could be terminated without assigning any reason. The government was not obliged to issue him a show-cause notice, he further observed.

The petitioner said he had joined the police department on March 18, 1970, as an ASI and earned a step-wise promotion. Lastly, he was promoted to the SP rank where he retired on April 4, 2006.

Being an honest officer, he said the department had re-employed him after retirement on a three-year contract on Oct 5, 2007.

The petitioner said the provincial government on April 10, 2008, had terminated him without issuing him any show-cause notice, which was against the principle of natural justice.

He requested the court to declare the termination order as illegal.

DISMISSED: The Lahore High Court has dismissed the bail application of an accused who defrauded a man of Rs 250,000 after promising him a visa to South Africa.