ISLAMABAD, Feb 3: The Federal Service Tribunal (FST) has directed the Establishment Division to immediately appoint an appellant, whose CSS result was earlier withheld, in the police service as he qualified on merit.

The FST, comprising its chairman Justice (retired) Amanullah Abbasi and member Abdul Rashid Baloch, also asked the Establishment Division to send the appellant, Mohammad Asad Ali Chaudhry, for Specialized Training Programme.

The tribunal observed that the appellant, who secured first position among AJK candidates in CSS Examination-2000, was pushed to litigation that caused him considerable expenditure, frustration and loss of a precious year of his career.

An 11-page FST order said the Federal Public Services Commission (FPSC) announced the CSS exams-2000 results in the newspapers on November 2001, but Mr Chaudhry's result was withheld. Later, the appellant learnt that his result was withheld to accommodate a close relative of the then FPSC secretary on a district management group seat.

Consequently, he filed an appeal before the Rawalpindi Bench of the Lahore High Court (LHC), seeking directions against the FPSC to announce his result and appoint him in the police service as per his choice.

The court issued orders his favour, but the commission did not announce the result. Mr Chaudhry against moved the LHC and the case was remanded back to the FPSC for fresh decision within one month.

Since the FPSC failed to decide the case within the stipulated period, the appellant filed a contempt petition before the high court. Still, the commission rejected his plea.

He again challenged the rejection before the high court, which directed the FPSC to decide the matter within 10 days, but the same was again delayed. As a result, he again filed a contempt petition before the high court.

The FPSC opposed the contempt application on the grounds that the matter had become in fructous. Mr Chaudhry again challenged the rejection before the LHC, but despite availability of a police service seat on AJK quota, it was not allocated to him.

The FPSC went into appeal before the Supreme Court, which, however, dismissed the plea in October 2002. But the commission did not allocate the seat and, resultantly, the appellant could not join his CSS-2000 batch and, thus, lost one year of his career.

Under these circumstances, he was constrained to join Foreign Service on a seat created by the Foreign Office to avoid contempt proceedings. The appellant also submitted two presentations to the Prime Minister Secretariat for redressal of his grievance.

The PM Secretariat also issued directions to the respondents but without any effect. The appellant again moved the LHC and later to the Supreme Court, but the Establishment Division declined to implement the orders to appoint him in the police service. Therefore, he filed an appeal before the FST.

Proper and quick dispensation of justice is the cardinal principle of good governance, which demands prompt declaration of Mohammad Asad's result. Instead of allocating a seat in the police service, he was adjusted in the Foreign Service through creation of a numerary post, the FST observed.