SHC sets aside appointments of two police officers to ACE on deputation

The Sindh High Court has set aside a notification with regard to the appointments of police officers as director and deputy director to the Anti-Corruption Establishment (ACE) on a deputation basis.

The court in its recent judgment held that the appointments of Saadat Ali Yasin as ACE director and Jam Zafarullah Dharejo as deputy director were made in violation of the criteria set forth by the Supreme Court.

Jan Mohammad and other petitioners have challenged the appointments of on deputation basis. Their counsel submitted that appointments were violative of the requisite procedure laid down under the rules, and in fact the two had been given a favour by the competent authority.

They emphasised that the respondent police officers had already served the Anti-Corruption Department on deputation for more than one period, which was reflected in a notification on April 27, 2018; therefore, they could not have been appointed on deputation for the second time, an act not in conformity to the rules.

They submitted that the appointments were politically motivated and needed to be set aside. They said posting honest officers to public offices would form the foundation of good governance, which was the requirement of law.

The respondents’ counsel contended that the petitions were not maintainable as the petitioners were not aggrieved persons, and submitted that the appointments of the both the respondents were not in violation to the SC judgment. Provincial law officers also opposed petitions on the ground that under the recruitment rules notified vide a notification on September 27, 2017, the government, in exigency of service, is competent to fill the post of deputy director, Enquires & Anti- Corruption Establishment Sindh, from amongst the officers of Provincial Administrative Service (PAS), Ex-PCS and Provincial Secretariat Service (PSS)/ Police officer BPS-18 by way of transfer, abd as such there is no illegality in the impugned notifications.

After hearing the arguments of the counsel, the court observed that the respondents were posted six times in the ACE, and in view of the dictum laid down by the SC, the posting of such a nature should be discouraged and respect should be given to the law and rules to minimize unrest amongst the officers of the department, who suffer and are being deprived of their lawful right to promotion or otherwise.

It further observed that deputations did not have any vested right to remain in the past forever or for a stipulated period, they cannot force official respondents to complete their tenure, and they can be repatriated to the parent department at any time.

The court observed that principally the postings of officers on deputation in different departments would never improve the system within those departments, as the deputationists on expiry of his deputation period would join his parent department.

It said such an officer even otherwise is not accountable and the department in which he is appointed would ultimately suffer. The court observed that those officers who are eligible and likely to be promoted in the department are deprived of their lawful right to promotion, which is a permanent cause of heart- burning to the cadre officers. The court declared that police officers Saadat Ali Yasin and Jam Zafarullah Dharejo were deputed in the ACE in violation of the criteria set forth by the SC and set aside their impugned notifications.