Civil Servants Amendment Bill challenged in SHC

Karachi
The Sindh Civil Servants (amendment) Bill was challenged in the SHC on the pretext of being introduced by the Sindh government to restore officers wrongfully posted in other departments.
Petitioner Rana Faizul Hasan submitted the controversial bill was passed so that the provincial government could justify wrongful appointments, of officers absorbed and/or deputed in different departments, which were earlier declared unlawful by the Supreme Court and were ordered to be transferred to their parent departments.
He maintained that the impugned amendment was against the directives of the SC and provided a blanket cover to all officers who were absorbed on non-cadre government posts.
The court was prayed to declare the bill ultra vires of the Constitution as well as the SC and called for submission of details regarding the appointment of such officers from grade 16 to 21, including those appointed in Sindh Building Control Authority, Karachi Water and Sewerage Board and Karachi Metropolitan Corporation.

Control of special courts
A full bench of the Sindh High Court on Monday directed federal and provincial law officers to inform the court of the criteria on which the presiding officers were judged and appointed in special courts and tribunals working under federal and provincial laws and statutes.
The directives were given while hearing identical petitions regarding administrative and financial control of different special courts including anti terrorism court, accountability court, tribunals and high court.
The bench headed by Justice Sajjad Ali Shah expressed dissatisfaction over the comments filed by the federal law officer regarding appointment of the presiding officer in tribunals and observed the High Court had no authority to supervise subordinate courts.
The court observed that the workings of the judicial procedure get affected due to appointments of unqualified persons in the judiciary.
Law officers were directed to file the comments by May 4; the date set of the next hearing.
Provincial law officers were also asked to file comments with regard to transfer of administrative and financial control of various ancillary courts and tribunals established under provincial laws.
The officers were previously ordered to file the comments on April 11.
It is pertinent to mention that the provincial government had appealed to the SC to place the Registrar of the anti terrorism courts and its staff under the administration of the SHC.
The Supreme Court had directed the provincial government to not only place the administrative control but also the budgetary allocation of special courts at the disposal of the high court.