ISLAMABAD, Sept 2: The chairman and four members of the Federal Public Service Commission (FPSC) on Friday challenged before the Rawalpindi bench of the Lahore High Court the recently promulgated ordinance curtailing their term office from five years to three.
Moved by Lt-Gen (retd) Jamshaid Gulzar, chairman of the FPSC, and members Gul Hanif, Justice (retd) Abdur Rehman Khan, Javed Akram and Tariq Saeed Haroon, the petitioners also pleaded to stay the implementation of the ordinance, pending the instant case before the court. Advocate Akram Sheikh is representing the petitioners.
On Saturday, two days before the beginning of the National Assembly session, President Pervez Musharraf had promulgated the FPSC (Amendment) Ordinance 2005 under which the term of office of the sitting chairman and members of the commission was reduced to three years from the date of joining or till the time they reached the age of 65.
With the promulgation of the ordinance, Gul Hanif, Justice Abdur Rehman Khan and Javed Akram would be affected immediately while the tenure of the chairman and Tariq Saeed Haroon would be curtailed by two years.
In the petition, they sought a declaration from the court that the amendment was discriminatory, based on ulterior motives and against the provisions of the Constitution.
President Pervez Musharraf, Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz, the federal government through Secretary, Establishment Division, Law and Justice are respondents in the petition.
Lt-Gen (retd) Jamshaid Gulzar was appointed chairman of the commission for five years on March 31, 2003, while Hanif Gul was appointed member on November 1, 2001; Justice (retd) Abdur Rehman on January 31, 2002; Javed Akram on June 6, 2002 and Tariq Saeed on December 2, 2002.
Removal of petitioners as members of FPSC through the ordinance violates their fundamental right as contained in Article 14 of the constitution, the petition stated.
Moreover no compelling circumstances exist to convince the president to believe that it is necessary to promulgate the ordinance, the petitioners stated.
Through the ordinance, they contended, their vested rights and privileges conferred upon them under the Federal Public Service Commission Ordinance, 1977, could not be taken away by forcing them to cease to be members of the commission when their appointments were made for a tenure of five years each which had not yet expired.
The ordinance is patently and manifestly a colourable exercise of power by the president, they stated.