PHC suspends amendment in Civil Services of Pakistan

Humayun Khan

PESHAWAR: The two-member bench of Peshawar High Court comprising of Justice Ijaz Anwar and Justice Naeem Anwar has ordered the suspension of the amendment made in Civil Services of Pakistan (CSP) rules whereby scheduled strength of Pakistan Administrative Services (PAS) cadre and adjourned further hearing till 14 April 2021.

A petition was filed by Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Provincial Management Services (PMS) officer namely Farhat Ullah Marwat was taken up by the Peshawar High Court, wherein the petitioner had called into question the vires of the amendments made to the Civil Service of Pakistan (Composition and cadre) Rules 1954.

The premise of the petition is that the amendments made violating the Constitution of Islamic Republic of Pakistan as well as the Civil Servants Act.

It also impacts the terms and conditions of service of the PMS officer. It also called into question the authority of the federal government to make rules in connection with the affairs of the province under Article 240(b) of the constitution.

During the pendency of the writ petition the Establishment Division moved yet another amendment in the scheduled posts increasing the posts of PAS officer four folds in provinces and took almost all the top tier postings.

The counsel appearing on behalf of the petitioner Advocate Ali Gohar Durrani and Umer Gillani appraised the court that the constitutional scheme has been robbed in the garb of an executive order without any sanctity attached to it.

The counsel Ali Gohar Durrani Advocate also stated that as PMS officer is a provincial government civil servant, he can challenge only the legality of actions of provincial government before KP Service tribunal and thus the amendment being federal cannot be called in question before the services tribunal.

Ali Gohar Durrani further added that as rule 17 provided for consultation with the Provincial Government and that consultation has not taken place therefore the amendment in rules must be suspended.

Another issue was the conflict of the amendment with Rule 7 of the CSP rules 1954 as well as the KP PMS Rules 2007 Schedule III.