Islamabad: A division bench of the Islamabad High Court (IHC) here Thursday set aside the intera court appeals (ICAs) of 67 National Highway & Motorway Police (NH&MP) officials seeking directions for the federal government to not repatriate them to their parent departments, as they were absorbed in the NH&MP after joining it on deputations.
IHC division bench upheld the single bench order where it was directed to send these officials back to their parent departments.
Including 67 NH&MP officials, there were a total 356 government officials who in the previous PPP government were appointed in different federal government departments on deputations and later their services were absorbed.
Justice Noorul Haq N Qureshi of the IHC on April 7 had dismissed NH&MP official’s petitions with directions that departmental authorities should proceed against all those officials who while ignoring merit absorb services of these deputationists. These employees then filed an intera court appeal (ICA) that was fixed for hearing today before a division bench comprising Justice Aamir Farooq and Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb.
On previous date of hearing the same division bench had suspended the single bench order and issued notices to the federal government and NH&MP authorities seeking their reply. In Thursday’s proceeding, division upheld the single bench order and dismissed ICAs. The officials were inducted in the NH&MP on deputation during the PPP government and a case for their permanent absorption in the police was initiated in the last few months of the previous government.
The PML-N government in 2014 cancelled the permanent appointment of these officials and also posted them back to their respective parent departments. However, the officials challenged their repatriation in the IHC. These 356 officials belong to different public sector organisations, including police departments of Punjab, Sindh, KP, Balochistan and AJK.
In the April 7 decision IHC bench had conceded to the argument forwarded by a deputy attorney general (DAG) Raja Khalid Mehmood who while representing federal government had said that these employees were absorbed in NH&MP without merit, without considering their educational qualifications and physical standards related to height.
