SHC quashes forest ministry’s requisition to withdraw IG post

The Sindh High Court (SHC) has directed the Federal Public Service Commission (FPSC) to conduct interviews of the candidates who have qualified for the post of inspector general of the forest ministry by ignoring the proposed amendments in the recruitment rules.

The direction came on a petition of Muzaffar Ali Talpur and others who have challenged the withdrawal of the requisition for the appointment of the forest IG by the Ministry of Climate Change for altering the recruitment rules notified for the post.

The petitioners’ counsel said Ghulam Qadir Shah and Talpur were provisionally short-listed for interview for the post of forest IG in 2019, adding that the petitioners had applied for the post on open merit, but the respondent ministry recalled the requisition for the post for mala fide reasons.

He said the FPSC had commenced the selection process by advertising the subject post, and the petitioners had duly applied for it, so a right had come to occur in favour of the petitioners that they ought to be called for the required interview for being appointed on the advertised post.

The deputy attorney general questioned the maintainability of the petition, saying that the competent authority is empowered under the service jurisprudence to withdraw the post from the FPSC in terms of the proposed amendments in the recruitment rules for the forest IG.

He said the competent authority has decided to amend the recruitment rules so that the subject post may be filled by way of promotion instead of direct recruitment. An SHC division bench comprising Justice Aftab Ahmed Gorar and Justice Adnanul Karim Memon said that there cannot be any justification for violating the express mandate of the constitution’s Article 27, whereby no citizen otherwise qualified for appointment in the service of Pakistan will be discriminated against in respect of any such appointment.

The court said that it is a settled principle that once the candidate appears before the competent examining forum in the light of an advertisement, and passes the test and interview, they are entitled for further process of appointment against the vacant post.

The court quashed the requisition of the forest ministry with regard to the withdrawal of the forest IG post, and directed the FPSC to conduct the interview of the petitioners for the post within two weeks by ignoring the letter of the climate change secretary as well as the proposed amendment in the recruitment rules. The court directed the FPSC to recommend a suitable candidate for the subject post on merit.