PHC revokes suspension of 27 Fisheries officials

PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court (PHC) on Monday suspended notification about suspension of 27 officials of the Directorate of Fisheries Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

The officers had claimed that action had been taken against them for refusing direct recruitment for posts in the directorate on the desire of political figures of the ruling party.

The suspended officers included directors, deputy directors, assistant directors and district officers.

A division bench comprising Justice Ishtiaq Ibrahim and Justice Abdul Shakoor suspended the provincial government notification till next order of the court.

The bench suspended the notification on deputing the suspended officials to the Livestock Department, who were untrained and were ex-cadre employees.

The court fixed the October 18 for the next hearing into the case.

The bench issued notice to the provincial government through chief secretary, secretary Agriculture and Lives Stock, Director General Fisheries and Said Wali, a former private secretary to agriculture minister to submit reply in the case.

During the hearing, lawyer for the petitioner Muhammad Ijaz Khan Sabi submitted before the bench that suspension of the petitioners was not only against the law but based on malafide intention.

He informed the bench that political figures of the ruling party wanted the officials to make the decision of their choice and the officials were subjected to the impugned action.

About the facts of the case, it was submitted that some posts of fisheries watchers, junior clerks, head fisheries watchers, tube-well operators, drivers and electricians were advertised through two public notices one on February 11, 2017, and second on June 10, 2017.

The petitioners submitted that all the candidates were made to take written test and interview, but before issuance of final appointment orders, the process was cancelled, therefore the candidates, who were optimistic about their appointment challenged the cancellation.

It said that respondent number 4 Said Wali who happened to be the private secretary to the special assistant to the chief minister for Livestock and Fisheries, wanted the recruitment process cancelled.

It said that on January 10, 2018, an inquiry committee was constituted and the respondent number 4 private secretary on January 12 had cancelled the recruitment process prior to the submission of the inquiry committee report and again advertised the posts, which was challenged by the candidates in the high court.

The petitioners submitted that the high court on September 25 turned down the interference of the private secretary to the special assistant to the KP chief minister to issue a notification on cancellation of the recruitment process and their re-advertisement.

It said that after three days of the high court decision to turn down the notification on cancellation of the recruitment process and orders to appoint the candidates on the posts, secretary Agriculture and Livestock issued the notification about the 27 senior officers suspension and second for assigning them their duties to officers of Livestock Department, who are ex-cadre and non-technical.

The petition said that the high court in the earlier candidates’ writ petition had categorically declared that the private secretary to the special assistant to the chief minister was not a competent authority to cancel the appointment process or to initiate an inquiry against the officers of the government and thus the petitioners suspension orders was void ab initio and coram non-judice.