Landmark Judgement of Supreme Court Regarding Seniority of civil Servants

Landmark Judgement of Supreme Court Regarding Seniority of civil Servants #Seniority #Civilservant IN THE SUPREME COURT OF PAKISTAN (APPELLATE JURISDICTION) PRESENT: MR. JUSTICE GULZAR AHMED, HCJ MR. JUSTICE IJAZ UL AHSAN MR. JUSTICE SAYYED MAZAHAR ALI AKBAR NAQVI CIVIL APPEAL NOs. 909 TO 912 OF 2020 & CRIMINAL ORIGINAL PETITION NO. 87 OF 2020 (On appeal against judgment dated 31.01.2020 passed by the High Court of Balochistan, Quetta, in CP No. 246/2008 & 334/2019) Khalilullah Kakar (In CAs 909 & 911 of 2020) Irfan Ali (In CA 910 of 2020 & Cr.O.P. 87 of 2020) Abdul Haleem and another (In CA 912 of 2020) … Appellants/Petitioner VERSUS Provincial Police Officer, Balochistan etc (In all cases) … Respondents For the Appellants: Mr. Muhammad Shoaib Shaheen, ASC (In CAs 909 & 910 of 2020) In person (In CA 911 of 2020 & Cr.O.P. 87 of 2020) Sh. Riazul Haque, ASC Syed Rifaqat Hussain Shah, AOR (In CA 912 of 2020) For the Respondents: Syed Iftikhar Hussain Gillani, Sr. ASC (For respondent Nos. 2, 3, 5 to 10, 20 in CA 909 of 2020, respondent Nos. 2, 3, 5, 8, 12 in CA 910 of 2020 and respondent Nos. 2, 3, 5 to 10, 12 in CA 911 of 2020) Mr. Adnan Basharat, ASC (For remaining repondents in CAs 909 to 912/2020) For Govt of Balochistan: Mr. Ayaz Khan Swati, Addl. A.G Date of Hearing: 24.03.2021 JUDGMENT SAYYED MAZAHAR ALI AKBAR NAQVI, J.- Through this consolidated judgment, we intend to decide the above titled cases, as the issue involved in these cases is common and they have arisen out of the same judgment. Civil Appeal Nos. 909 to 912 of 2020 & Criminal Original Petition No. 87 of 2020 2 2. Civil Appeal Nos. 909/910/911/912/2020: Through these appeals by leave of the Court under Article 185(3) of the Constitution of Islamic Republic of Pakistan, 1973 (hereinafter to be referred as ‘the Constitution’), the appellants have called in question the judgment dated 31.01.2020 passed by the High Court of Balochistan, Quetta, whereby the Constitutional Petitions filed by the respondents were allowed and the Provincial Police Officer, Balochistan, was directed to issue a joint seniority list of Deputy Superintendents of Police (hereinafter to be referred as ‘DSPs’) of all cadres/branches. 3. Succinctly stated the facts of the matter are that as per practice at some point of time there was a joint seniority list of DSPs belonging to different cadres/branches of the Balochistan Police Force. However, subsequently the seniority lists upto the rank of DSPs qua some of the branches was separated keeping in view the nature of work. The respondents being DSPs of legal/prosecution branch challenged the issuance of separate seniority lists by filing Constitutional Petition No. 246/2008 before the High Court of Balochistan, Quetta. The said Constitutional Petition was finally accepted vide judgment dated 23.04.2009. Consequently, a joint seniority list of DSPs was issued on 16.08.2009. The police officers of the rank of DSPs of different cadres challenged the judgment of the High Court dated 23.04.2009 by filing an application under Section 12(2) CPC, which was accepted vide judgment dated 20.06.2017. Resultantly, the earlier order dated 23.04.2009 was recalled and the petition was directed to be amended by impleading the DSPs of other branches as respondents. This order was assailed before this Court through Civil Petition No. 5196/2017 and this Court maintained the same vide order dated 11.06.2018. The appellant department although issued joint seniority list on 11.12.2017 but ultimately issued two separate notifications on 06.03.2019 determining the seniority of 26 DSPs belonging to legal/prosecution branch in one notification whereas through the other notification, the seniority of 170 DSPs of other branches was determined separately. The DSPs of the legal/prosecution branch filed objections qua the separate seniority lists but without awaiting its fate filed Constitutional Petition No. 334/2019 before the High