Official’s appointment to women commission challenged

PESHAWAR: The appointment of Director Programmes (BPS-19) in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Commission on the Status of Women was challenged in the Peshawar High Court (PHC) as the petitioner claimed that this was made in violation of the rules and relevant law.

The appointment was challenged by Attiya Zahid, one of the candidates for the post, through her lawyer Gul Rehman Mohmand.

The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government through chief secretary, secretary Establishment, secretary Social Welfare Department, Secretary to the government on the Commission on the Status of Women, as well as chairperson and director programmes of the commission were made the parties in the petition.

The petition said that as per the law, secretary of the concerned department would be chairman of the search and scrutiny committee, but in the appointment of Amna Waheed as director programmes, a member of the committee acted as chairperson of the committee in violation of the rules and law.

It was stated that the chairperson’s participation as member of the committee was also a violation of the rules.

Under the rules, it said, the secretary of the commission would chair the search and scrutiny committee as chairman, but the meeting was chaired by a member of commission Ms Naseem Hayat.

Also, the petitioner claimed that one member of the committee, secretary Regulations of Establishment Department Yasir Hussain, did not attend the committee meeting as his signature is missing in the members meeting, as is evident from the minutes.

It was pointed out that the formation of the committee for the appointment was wrong and also role of the secretary of the commission was ignored.

The petitioner claimed that an unconstitutional committee was formed to appoint a blue-eyed candidate on the post.

It said the Establishment Department through its letter issued on January 19 to the Commission stated that the meeting and search and scrutiny process were done in violation of law on the subject as the chairperson was the appointing authority.

The Establishment Department asked the Commission to follow the necessary actions in appointment as no criteria was followed by the search and scrutiny committee at time of shortlisting of candidates.

It was also stated that the petitioner was eligible for the post and has vast experience in the relevant sector. The court was requested to annul the appointment and respondent Amna Waheed be stopped from working till disposal of the petition.