ISLAMABAD - In a contempt of court petition, the Islamabad High Court (IHC) Monday directed a joint secretary of Establishment Division to appear before the court in person on September 18.
Justice Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui issued these summons while hearing a contempt of court petition moved by 23 former civil servants who were seeking proforma promotion.
The judge also asked him to explain why has the order of this court not been implemented so far despite a lapse of nearly five months and why discriminatory treatment is being meted to the petitioner.
According to the details, all the 23 civil servants were retired before 2007 including the petitioner Mohammad Iqbal Khan when the Establishment Division had revised the seniority list pursuant to the apex Supreme Court orders of 1998.
Through the proforma promotion these petitioners will be promoted to grade 20, 21 and 22 grades on papers. They will be paid arrears accordingly but their services would not be acquired.
In this matter, the Establishment Division had issued a revised seniority list on March 13, 2007 pursuant to apex court judgment dated May 13, 1998 where the Supreme Court had directed the establishment division to revise the seniority list according to the principles laid down.
Issuing the revised seniority list, the ED then granted proforma promotion to the four retired civil servants namely Dr Aleem Mahmood, Akbar Hayat Gandapur, Hamid Qureshi and Javed Noel in higher grades.
The principle according to which these officers were promoted that the officers placed on the revised seniority list could claim promotion to higher grades in the light of precedent set in the case with effect from dates their junior officers were promoted before them.
The petitioner informed the court that the four promoted retired officers were junior to the 23 present petitioners who later filed applications before the federal services tribunal (FST).
Then, FST accepted appeals of these 23 officers and directed the Establishment Division to grant proforma promotion to them with effects from the dates their respective immediate juniors were promoted with all consequential benefits.
According to the petitioners, the Establishment Division did not pay any heed to the FST orders dated January 27, 2012 and then they filed an appeal before the IHC.
The IHC bench directed the Establishment Division to implement the FST orders within 15 days time while hearing the matter on April 22, 2013. But the order is yet to be implemented.