ISLAMABAD: Forty-eight officers of the Military Lands and Cantonments (ML&C) Department have challenged the appointment of a serving military official as the director general (DG) of the ML&C Department, saying that it is tantamount to usurping the rights of ML&C officers.
Justice Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui of the Islamabad High Court (IHC), after a preliminary hearing, admitted the matter for regular hearing and sought a report from the federal government.
The post of DG ML&C is grade 21 civilian post and had been filled by ML&C officers, who are appointed through Central Superior Services (CSS) exams, since 1924.
But ever since former general Pervez Musharraf seized power in a military coup in 1999, the post has been and continues to be occupied by military officers, even after the restoration of democracy in 2008.
The petitioners, including ML&C officers and executive officers of cantonment boards across the country, through their counsel Asma Jehangir, told the court that the post of DG ML&C is the pinnacle of promotion for the officers of this department.
Petitioners maintain army men depriving civilian officers of hard-earned promotions
They maintain that “the appointment of Major General Mazhar Saleem Khan vide letter for appointment on deputation dated July 19, 2013 whether serving or retired is against the provisions of Cantonment Act 1924 and the Cantonment Land Administration Rules 1937, is in flagrant contravention of the Civil Servants Act 1973 and constitutes a blatant breach of the Constitution, besides being an open transgression of a civil department and infringement of the rights of the civil servants”.
According to the petition, the ML&C department was formed in 1924 to serve as the custodian of state land being used by armed forces.
ML&C must necessarily be a civilian-controlled institution as it was mandated to control the affairs of civilians living inside cantonment areas. The civilian officers were appointed, initially as inspectors and deputy inspectors in 1924. In 1927, this nomenclature changed to directors and deputy directors, respectively. This practice continued until 1988, when the post of director was upgraded and re-designated as DG ML&C and those of deputy directors as directors. No military officer has been appointed to the department’s top post since 1936, the petition further said.
A committee was formed by then-prime minister Benazir Bhutto to consider whether the department could be handed over to a military in charge. In March 1995, the committee forwarded a summary to the prime minister saying, “the committee has unanimously opposed including the members of armed forces”.
According to the petition, the Ministry of Defence proposed that affairs pertaining to the ML&C Department be assigned to an additional secretary at the Ministry of Defence who happens to be a serving major general.
Ever since the coup of 1999, only military men have been appointed DGs at the ML&C Department. The incumbent Maj-Gen Mazhar Saleem Khan is the 7th officer holding the post of DG ML&C.
The petition refers to the Supreme Court judgment of June 12, 2013, which maintains that “non-civil servants could not be appointed on deputation to any cadre of government”.
Giving a historic view of the administration in the cantonment areas, the petition said historically the cantonment administration has been transforming from military control except for matters pertaining to health, welfare and discipline of troops.
The petition mentioned that the cantonment act was introduced to the legislative assembly on March 26, 1923 and it received the assent of the viceroy on February 16, 1924.
It also quoted the speech of then commander in chief General Lord Rawlinson that he made in the Council of State on February 14, 1924.
He had said: “The supervision of cantonment affairs of a strictly municipal character will pass into the hands of the civil government of the provinces in which the cantonment is situated; and the cantonment board in all important cantonments will contain a considerable proportion of elected representatives to safeguard the interests of the civil population”.
The court is now expected to take up the matter in the first week of July.
Published in Dawn, June 17th, 2014