ISLAMABAD   -   The Supreme Court of Pakistan Tuesday allowed the Sindh government’s appeal against the Sindh High Court (SHC) judgment declaring the Sindh Public Service Commission (SPSC) Act, 1989, ultra vires to the Constitution.

A three-member bench of the apex court headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Gulzar Ahmed conducted hearing of the Sindh government’s appeal regarding the appointment and irregularities in the SPSC. The court directed the SC office to fix the petitions of all the officers who were affected by the SHC verdict.

The SHC in June this year had declared the SPSC Act 1989 ultra vires to the Constitution and cancelled the job test results of medical officers and Combined Competitive Examination (CCE) held in 2018. The bench allowed the PSC chairman and the members to continue to work till the final decision on the appeal. It also permitted the suspended officers recruited through the CCE 2018 to work.

Sindh Advocate General informed the court that the Hyderabad circuit bench of the SHC had declared null and void the SPSC Act and also set aside the appointment made under this law. He informed that the SHC verdict affected the recruitment of 1700 male and female medical officers.

Makhdoom Ali Khan advocate appeared on behalf of the persons who had been selected through CCE-2018. He told the bench that the High Court has also stopped the officers recruited through CCE, 2018. He said the SHC neither heard the Sindh AG nor the officers were the party before the High Court.

The SHC stated that bureaucracy used to function more efficiently under the Sindh Civil Servants Act, 1973, and Sindh Civil Servants Rules, 1974 and 1975 and half a dozen other similar laws and rules. “The province had been served by honest, qualified and motivated civil servants before 1989 when this institution [SPSC] in its present form was born - according to one view to serve as one-window facility to foster whole-sale corruption.”

The SHC stated that bureaucracy used to function more efficiently under Sindh Civil Servants Act, 1973, and Sindh Civil Servants Rules, 1974 and 1975 and half a dozen other similar laws and rules.

The court ordered that all tests, interviews, selections, appointments, tenders etc or any act doable under SPSC Act 1989 or rules and regulations made thereunder were suspended.

The court said that in case the provincial government wished to re-enact the laws, it should draw some inspiration from such laws enacted in developed countries like Australia or New Zealand to deliver the premise of “right man/woman for the right job” without fear or favour.

The case is adjourned till the first week of December.

The Supreme Court of Pakistan Tuesday directed the Earthquake Reconstruction and Rehabilitation Authority (ERRA) to complete all under-construction school projects in Khyber-Pakhtunkhawa (KP) by June 22.

A three-member bench of the apex court headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Gulzar Ahmed conducted hearing of the suo moto notice on not constructing the schools in KP damaged in the 2005 earthquake. The bench ordered the provincial government to furnish details of the students and the teachers in the completed schools.

The top court expressed annoyance over chairman ERRA for non-completion of the projects which were under the authority’s purview. He asked the chairman that the ERRA officials are just taking salaries and benefits. He added that if it had been your own children who were out of schools then you would have worked.

The chairman informed that out of 14,000 projects, the 3,000 are incomplete so far. “Education and health are our top priority,” he added.

At this, the Chief Justice said that had education and health been the authority’s priority then the projects would have been completed by now. “The earthquake-hit areas and schools should have been built within a year,” said the CJP. He added that the schools, of which photographs were presented before the court, seem inactive.

Justice Qazi Amin, another member of the bench, said that the KP government’s negligence had turned education into an industry. “The college fee used to be Rs8, now it is Rs30,000 for school going children,” Justice Amin said. “It is the responsibility of the state to provide free education. The KP government should not try to hide behind the ERRA,” he further stated.

The provincial advocate general prayed that so far 238 out of 540 schools had been completed.

Then, the court sought a progress report from the KP government on the said projects and adjourned the hearing for a month for further proceedings.