ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Tuesday restrained the Capital Development Authority (CDA) from inducting directors general in BS-20.

IHC Justice Raja Inaam Ameen Minhas issued the stay order while hearing a contempt of court petition filed by a BS-19 officer of the CDA, Iftikhar Haideri.

Mr Haideri had approached the IHC after the civic agency did not promote him despite the fact that the Departmental Promotion Committee (DPC) had recommended him for promotion to BS-20. The court had earlier summoned the minutes of the DPC meeting.

While the matter was pending before the IHC, the CDA on April 17 advertised three positions of directors general.

According to the advertisement, the CDA required candidates having 16 years of education and 25 years of experience in the government sector for the posts of DGs. The advertisement further stated that retired commissioned officers in BS-20 would be preferred.

However, under the CDA Employees Regulations 1992, appointments to the post of DG are to be made entirely through promotion.

Subsequently, Mr Haideri filed a contempt of court petition through his counsel Fiaz Ahmed Anjum Jandran.

Justice Minhas issued notices to the Chairman CDA Lt (retired) Sohail Ashraf, Member Administration Esfandyar Baloch and Director General and Director of the Human Resource Department.

The court also sought their reply over non-implementation of the court orders and making fresh induction.

The counsel argued before the court that the authority appeared reluctant to grant due promotions to eligible officers while attempting to induct fresh officers for senior positions.

He contended that instead of presenting the minutes of the DPC meeting in compliance with the court’s directions, issuing the advertisement amounted to blatant violation of the court’s order.

The petitioner’s counsel also informed the court that the CDA was assigning multiple acting charges to a handful of officers while sidelining scores of other officials without justification.

The issue of multiple charges in the civic agency had already raised concerns within the CDA, where several officers are currently managing numerous additional assignments simultaneously.

According to official documents, a Deputy Director (BS-18) has been holding seven charges, including director roads north, roads south, traffic engineering, land survey and metro bus operations. Similarly, several other officers have been assigned dual and multiple responsibilities, while over 200 officers and officials were reportedly sidelined and directed to report to the Human Resource Department.

Some officers reportedly were holding multiple charges on “like and dislike basis” whereas several officers of good repute had been sidelined despite no pending inquiries against them. Officials said the arrangement reflected poor governance and affected the authority’s administrative efficiency.

Published in Dawn, May 13th, 2026