IHC rules high courts can assume jurisdiction in cases of promotion assessments

ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Wednesday set aside the supersession and deferment of top bureaucrats in promotion matters and ruled that high courts can assume jurisdiction in cases relating to assessment of “fitness” and “suitability” for promotion. In a detailed judgment authored by Justice Raja Inaam Ameen Minhas, the court held that denial of fair consideration for promotion was amenable to judicial review and such disputes did not fall within the exclusive jurisdiction of the Federal Service Tribunal. The judgment came on a series of petitions filed by BS-20 officers belonging to the Police Service of Pakistan (PSP), Pakistan Administrative Service (PAS), Inland Revenue Service (IRS), Pakistan Customs Service (PCS), and the health sector, which had challenged their supersession or deferment by the Central Selection Board (CSB) during meetings held in March 2025. The court set aside the CSB’s decision and directed that the cases of the officers be considered afresh. The court observed that although promotion to BS-20 and BS-21 was not a vested right and depended on fitness and merit, the process adopted by the authorities must conform to the “constitutional guarantees of fairness, transparency and due process”. Justice Minhas ruled that the CSB proceedings and the subsequent communication of reasons suffered from procedural impropriety. He observed that the affected officers were informed about the adverse decisions months after the board meetings. The court noted that while the board concluded its deliberations in March of last year, the reasons for supersession and deferment were communicated to some officers in September and to others in December. The judgment observed that the Federation could not benefit from its own failure by withholding reasons and later claiming that the petitions were premature. Among the prominent petitioners was Dr Mutahir Shah, a senior official of the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims), w...

Original source: Dawn Pakistan