Screening test issue: PHC issues notices to KPPSC, provincial cabinet

PESHAWAR: Peshawar High Court (PHC) on Thursday directed the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Public Service Commission (KPPSC) and provincial cabinet to respond to a petition seeking orders to nullify a decision on cancelling the screening tests for the posts of PMS officers in BPS-17 after 33,000 candidates appeared and 2,400 managed to clear it.

During hearing into a petition against the decision, a division bench consisting of Justices Abdul Shakoor and Shakeel Ahmed issued the notices to the chairman Public Service Commission KP and chief secretary KP, seeking their formal response on the matter, and adjourned the hearing.

The petitioners were represented by Barrister Syed Saad Ali Shah, who argued that the decision was challenged on the ground of illegality as both the cabinet and the commission exceeded their jurisdiction while making the said decision since they did not have the power vested in them by law to undertake such a decision.

It was submitted in the petition that the said decision was highly discriminatory and oppressive as it created unreasonable restrictions on the constitutionally guaranteed rights of those successful candidates who went through the mill of clearing screening tests as per the advertisement and prevailing law. The impugned actions of the respondents also threaten to be a cause of demotivation, resentment, and frustration of not only the successful candidates but also the public at large.

The counsel for the petitioners argued that besides infringing on the rights of the successful candidates, the commission and provincial cabinet being public functionaries also violated their fiduciary duty as they are mandated to act in a fair, just, transparent, equitable manner with procedural proprietary and to be within the parameters of law.