HYDERABAD: A division bench of Sindh High Court, Hyderabad circuit, comprising Justice Khadim Hussain Tunio and Justice Yousuf Ali Sayeed has issued notices to the chairman and secretary of the Sindh Public Service Commission (SPSC), directing them to appear in court on June 13 on a constitutional petition filed by two candidates.

Petitioners Tahir Imdad Soomro and Waqar Ahmed have submitted in court that superior courts, through their several judgements had mentioned mala fide and corrupt practices on the part of SPSC and its members.

The petitioners alleged that the respondent SPSC chairman and secretary were involved in nepotism, corruption, malpractices and dishonest management of petitioners’ marks.

They pointed out that the court vide its order dated Feb 24, 2023 had ordered that examinations were to be held in the presence of an official assignee of this court to know ground realities.

They said that on July 30, 2019, SPSC had published advertisement for Combined Competitive Examination (CCE)-2019. These exams had become a matter of controversy amid the above-mentioned allegations.

They said that on June 30, 2021, the court had declared the results announced by the SPSC null and void.

The commission and some other individuals challenged the judgement in Supreme Court and in the meantime Sindh government enacted the SPSC Act, 2022 as well as the SPSC (Recruitment Management) Regulations, 2023.

The petitioners stated that they were declared eligible for written test but the same was not held until June 12, 2023, when they were called for written test.

They said the respondents merged two subjects, ‘Pakistan affairs’ and ‘current affairs’ which were quite different from each other. They said the results of the test were announced in March this year and they [petitioners] were shocked to see that they were failed in ‘current affairs’, ‘Pakistan affairs’ and ‘international relations-II’.

The petitioners also pointed out that in its March 13, 2024 judgement, the high court remarked that SPSC members were involved in corrupt practices.

They submitted in court that they had, as mandated under S.161 of the 2023 regulations, filed application to the respondents for re-examining their marks but it was not decided to date though it was supposed to be decided within 15 days.

They prayed the court to direct the respondents to decide the application dated April 5, 2024 and declare that not deciding the application before the final results dated May 16, 2024 was illegal, and also declare the final results of the CCE-2020 illegal and void.

The petitioners are represented by Advocate Jawad Qureshi.

Published in Dawn, May 25th, 2024