LHC stays appointments in railways through balloting

RAWALPINDI: The Lahore High Court (LHC), Rawalpindi Bench Justice Shams Mehmood Mirza Tuesday stopped appointments in Pakistan Railways (PR) through balloting and issued a stay order against it.

The petitioner took a plea that authorities concerned had completely ignored merit and introduced balloting process for appointments in Pakistan Railways. The PREM Union of Pakistan Railways had pointed out that a majority of the newly appointed staff belonged to the two Rawalpindi constituencies of Railways Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed and his nephew Sheikh Rashid Shafiq.

Filing the petition before the Rawalpindi bench of the LHC through its counsel Imran Shafique, the union had requested the court to set aside the inductions. The petitioner said that in October 2018, the railways authorities had advertised 322 posts of different categories in BS-1 to BS-5. Another advertisement was published only a month later, with the number of vacant positions being increased from 323 to 845, the court was informed.

The petitioner also said that thousands of people had applied for the posts, but the appointments were made through balloting rather than on the basis of merit. The LHC was informed that 58 percent seats were to be filled on the basis of open merit, 20 percent quota was reserved for the children of railways employees, 10 percent was reserved for ex-employees, 5 percent for orphans and handicapped and 2 percent for disabled persons. However, the petition maintained that even those quotas were not taken into consideration during the induction through balloting. The complainant also told the court that the process of appointments through balloting introduced by Railways Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed is totally illegal.