ISLAMABAD The Supreme Court (SC) on Monday reserved the judgment in the case regarding the promotion of 54 federal government officers from BPS-21 to BPS-22. The promotions were made on the directives of Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani. A three-member bench of the Supreme Court, headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, heard the case of the out-of-turn promotions. Justice Ijaz Chaudhry and Justice Ghulam Rabbani were the other judges of the bench. Attorney General of Pakistan, Anwar Mansoor Khan, presented the summary of his arguments before the court in writing. He told the court that the promotions were made under the law. The Attorney General put his arguments under section 9 of the Civil Service Law, which defines that there is a minimum qualification required for promotion of officers. He also gave reference of the case of Union of India versus Lt Gen Rajindra Singh in the High Court of Delhi. He also held his arguments giving reference of Dr J.N. Mishra case, which said the question of seniority was not relevant in making the selection. During the hearing, some 37 officers, who were promoted, appeared before the court here on Monday. Chief Executive of PIDC Gul Muhammad told the apex court that he would quit if it revoked his promotion. Nazar Hussan Mehr of District Management Group, who had been promoted, took the plea that his promotion case was different from other promotions adding he had sought pre-mature retirement and was re-appointed. Mehr prayed to the court to decide his case after reviewing fully all the points of the case. There should be a set criterion for promotion to grade-22, he added. Muhammad Sami Saeed, Chairman FBR, Junaid Iqbal, Additional Secretary Punjab, Sohail Ahmad, Chairman CDA, Imtiaz Inayat Elahi, Member Board of Revenue Sindh, Ghulam Ali Pasha, Syed Shabbir Ahmad Shah, Secretary Anti Narcotics, Tariq Khosa, Information Secretary Mansoor Sohail, IG National Highway Authority and Motorway, Dr Waseem Ahmad, IG Punjab, Tariq Salim Dogar, and IG Balochistan Syed Javed Ali Shah from DMG appeared before the court in person and recorded their arguments. Secretary Minorities Affairs, Javed Akhtar, Khalid Idrees, Inam Ullah Khan, Mehmood Zahid, Batool Iqbal Qureshi, Ghulam Rasool, Gul Muhammad Anwar, Secretary Sports, Anees ul Hassan, Moulvi Agha Hassan and Ayoub Khan Tareeen from the Secretariat Group also recorded their arguments in the court. While, Nargis Sethi, Principal Secretary to Prime Minister, could not appear before the court. Secretary Anti-Terrorism, Tariq Khosa, said that there was no set criterion for the appointment of officers on selection posts. The concerned authorities be directed to put in place some criterion in this regard, he suggested and added, We are servants of people, not of rulers. We are expecting justice from the court, he submitted. The Prime Minister had given promotions on merit, he added. Gul Muhammad Anwar said that he could resign but could not go back to grade-21. It is also pertinent to mention here that Abdul Hafeez Pirzada, counsel for the Federation, has already completed his arguments in the case. Elaborating the issue, he had argued that till 1993, rules were not made for promotion to BPS-22 and for the first time an interim government felt the need for it and gave exhaustive rules which were called BPS-22 Rules. Muhammad Akram Sheikh, counsel for some 69 petitioners, had also completed his arguments last month. He argued that the Prime Minister had applied the 'choose and pick criteria in the promotions of some 54 officers.