SC scraps promotion of 54 bureaucrats into grade-22

Supreme Court of Pakistan has cancelled the orders made by the prime minister regarding the promotion of 54 civil servants into grade-22 and issued notifications in this regard, Dunya News reported today. Taking a suo moto notice on a letter written by Tariq Aziz-ud-Din, Chief Justice of Pakistan observed that the promotions were ordered against the seniority rules. During the hearing, the CJ remarked that the government could not make the promotions into BPS-22 for its own benefit. Former attorney general Anwar Mansoor told the court that the PM made the orders under his discretionary powers he is entitled with. Around 21 bureaucrats appeared before the court while 13 submitted written replies; 10 told the court about their preoccupations. The affectees of the said SC ruling include: Secretary Social Welfare Athar Tahir, Additional Secretary IT Najeeb Ullah Malik, Additional Secretary Minority Affairs Abdul Ghafoor Soomro, Secretary Interior Qamamruz Zaman, Secretary Special Education and Social Welfare Imtiaz Hussain Qazi, Asif Bajwa, Ishtiaq Ahmed Khan, Shahid Rasheed, Nasir Muhammad Khosa and Javed Iqbal. Last year on Sept 4, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani, using his discretionary powers had reshuffled almost the entire bureaucracy, replacing over a dozen federal secretaries and announcing changes in several other ministries by promoting several civil servants to Grade-22. The bureaucrats ignored by the prime minister have moved the court, pleading massive injustice, rather corruption, done to them by promoting 54 bureaucrats.