Service Tribunal calls KP Assembly speaker in promotion case

PESHAWAR: The Service Tribunal has summoned Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly Speaker Asad Qaiser on February 28 along with compliance report about promotion of additional secretary of the assembly.

The tribunal headed by a member Gulzeb Khan directed Asad Qaiser to appear in person before the tribunal along with compliance report of the order. The tribunal passed the direction in an execution petition filed by Ghulam Sarwar, Additional Secretary KP Assembly, seeking implementation of the order passed by the tribunal on September 14, last year about his promotion to the seat of KP Assembly secretary.

In September 2014, the tribunal had declared the promotion of another Additional Secretary Nasrullah to the post of secretary in BPS-21 as void and directed the respondent speaker to promote the petitioner along with all benefits.

The provincial government then challenged the decision in the Supreme Court, but the apex court did not take up the case for a hearing. During the hearing, counsel for the petitioner, Ali Azeem Afridi, submitted that neither the respondents had got any stay order against the decision, nor the case was fixed for a regular hearing and the petitioner was going to retire in this year.

He requested the tribunal to direct the respondents to implement the decision on provisional basis till decision of the apex court. However, no one appeared in the case on behalf of the respondents.

The Additional Secretary Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly, Ghulam Sarwar, has filed execution petition for implementation of the judgment. He continued his legal battle for his promotion as secretary Provincial Assembly by submitting a review petition first before the assembly speaker claiming that he was superseded by his junior against the rules.

Earlier, the secretary had filed his representation before the competent authority (Speaker KP Assembly) against the order issued on August 15, 2017 to promote Additional Secretary Nasrullah Khan as Secretary KP Assembly in violation of the rules.

It was for the second time the petitioner (Ghulam Sarwar) is being ignored in promotion as first he was superseded by junior Nasrullah Khan on the post of additional secretary and now yet again the petitioner was superseded by the respondent for the post of secretary.

The petitioner stated that it was not warranted to hold the meeting of DPC for promotion on vacant post of secretary as incumbency of respondent on BPS-19/20 with reference to seniority was in dispute through service appeal before tribunal yet to be disposed of.

The petitioner claimed that respondent (Nasrullah) has been wrongly considered for promotion on the basis of working paper prepared under his supervision as Special Secretary enjoying full administrative control over the Administration Department of the Secretariat.The Service Tribunal set aside the notification about promotion of Nasrullah as secretary KP Assembly and ordered the speaker to promote the petitioner to the post with all benefits.