MQM-P seeks full bench to hear plea against filling over 21,000 govt posts through IBA Sukkur

The counsel for Muttahida Qaumi Movement- Pakistan (MQM-P) lawmakers requested the Sindh High Court on Monday to constitute a full bench to hear their petition challenging the provincial government’s decision to recruit over 21,000 posts through the IBA Sukkur.

Filing a statement with a division bench, headed by Justice Mohammad Iqbal Kalhoro, counsel Tariq Mansoor submitted that his clients had serious reservations about a fair trial and due process of law by a previous bench of the court.

He stated that the previous bench had prima facie forced the petitioners to withdraw the petition on mere assumptions and then made use of the arbitrary exercise of power to call a third party in the matter.

He submitted that the instant matter was a complex case and of high level of public interest with a sensitive nature, and it was indirectly related to lives, bread and butter and employment opportunities of the people of the province. He requested the court to constitute a full bench comprising 10 most senior judges to hear the case.

The registrar of the IBA Sukkur also filed comments questioning the maintainability of the application filed by carrier testing service for becoming an intervenor in the petition.

The representative of the IBA Sukkur said the Sindh government approved a summary for the recruitment of 37,185 vacant posts of grades 5 to 15 through the IBA Sukkur and Karachi. He submitted that the IBA Sukkur had received 1,152,484 applications from graduation, intermediate and matriculation categories and accepted 1,011,367 applications.

He stated that the object of the screening test service was to process the recruitment process test of various positions of government on a merit and transparent basis. The court after taking the comments on record directed the office to fix the case on June 1 as per the court roster.

The SHC had in January suspended the government’s notification with regard to the recruitment of over 21,000 employees for grades 1 to 15 posts in different government departments and to conduct of a test through the IBA Sukkur and ordered that no recruitment of government employees should be made through the IBA Sukkur.

Petitioners Kanwar Naveed Jameel and others had earlier submitted in the petition that the provincial cabinet, in its meeting held on November 11, 2019, unanimously agreed to approve the Institute of Business Administration, Sukkur’s testing service as the only recognised government institution/testing service for the general screening test of the applicants, who applied jobs in all government departments.

They said that the IBA had published advertisement on its website illegally about the recruitment process. They referred to certain details obtained from the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan, which show that the IBA Sukkur was incorporated on July 23, 2015. They submitted that authorisation and deputation of the IBA Sukkur for conducting the screening test is patently illegal and in violation of Section 3(3) and 4(1) and (2) of the Sukkur IBA University Act.

Their counsel said that the Sindh Public Service Commission has functions to conduct tests and examinations for initial appointments of posts connected with affairs of the Sindh government.

The court was requested to declare that the government’s notification with regard to the filling over 21,000 posts through the IBA Sukkur was unlawful, as the respondent was neither eligible nor competent for the award of a contract for testing over 21,000 applicants. He requested the court to direct the government to conduct tests for the posts through the Sindh Public Service Commission by giving clear advertisements for each and every post in a transparent manner.