Lahore - The Lahore High Court was told on Wednesday that the advertisement for the post of director general of the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) was published in violation of the Supreme Court judgment and a Lahore High Court order.

The petitioner’s counsel Nabeel laved Kahloon informed the court of Justice Ayesha A Malik that in terms of the advertisement a candidate having maximum age limit of 62 years can apply for the post of director general Civil Aviation Authority. He said that this is discriminatory against the principle of Pilot in Command who retired at the age of 65 years and fully eligible to be appointed as DG in terms of the judgment “Asaf Faseehuddin Khan Vardag vs Government of Pakistan and others” (2014 SCMR 676).

He said that according to the Civil Aviation Recruitment Rules, 1970, an officer of proven executive ability with a minimum of 18 years class-1 service in any government aeronautical organization or service, preferably with experience as a pilot in command, or from amongst the incumbents of the next lower post in any technical branch of the department with minimum 15-years class-1 service is eligible to be appointed on the post of CAA DG.

Nevertheless, the criterian was not laid down in the impugned advertisement, he added. The CAA had published an advertisement for the post of DG Civil Aviation Authority with the requirement of maximum age limit of 62 years for the post.

Against the earlier advertisement Justice Farrukh Irfan Khan had passed an order on 21-03-2018 which says, “In the meanwhile, recruitment process for the post of Director General, Civil Aviation Authority may continue, however, result thereof will be subject to the final outcome of this writ petition.” However, the authority anew sought application for the post through another advertisement in the national dailies.

Against the second advertisement, another writ petition was filed in the which the court of Ayesha A Malik issued notice and sought written reply from the respondents.

The petitioner says Justice. Farrukh Irfan had issued stay order against the process of recruitment, and that no qualification has been mentioned in the impugned advertisement published in the newspaper for the post.

After hearing the arguments, the court ordered the issuance of notices to the respondents including the federation of Pakistan for 21-01-2019 and also sought parawise reply from them.

Full court reference
rescheduled

The full court reference, that was earlier announced to be held on 21st in the honour of outgoing Lahore High Court Chief Justice Anwaarul Haq, has been rescheduled for 31st 

The purpose of rescheduling the event is to avoid a gap in the working of the court matters from 21-12-2018 to 31-12-2018 as the chief justice will retire on 31st.

The Attorney General of Pakistan, Advocate General, Punjab, vice chairmen of the Pakistan Bat Council, Punjab Bar Council; presidents of the Lahore High Court bar associations and Lahore Bar Association have been informed about the new schedule. After the chief justice’s retirement Justice Shamim may perform his duty as LHC CJ till December 31, 2019. He was appointed as LHC judge on February 19.