SPSC put on notice on plea against selection of tribunal registrar

The Sindh High Court (SHC) on Friday issued notices to the advocate general Sindh, the Sindh Public Service Commission (SPSC) and others on a petition against the selection of the registrar of the provincial environmental protection tribunals.

The petitioner, Dr Dilshad Ahmed, submitted that the SPSC had recommended and selected Abida Parveen Pathan as registrar of the environmental protection tribunals in spite of the fact that she concealed material facts about her domicile to become an eligible candidate for the post.

He submitted that the respondent was also facing an investigation by the Federal Investigation Agency for allegedly causing a loss of over Rs20 million to the national exchequer in the Benazir Income Support Program where she worked as a divisional director on deputation. Petitioner’s counsel Farhatullah alleged that the respondent had filed fabricated and bogus documents along with her application to the SPSC.

The counsel submitted that the respondent was not entitled to be appointed as the registrar and that the SPSC ought to have rejected her application at the scrutiny stage. The court was requested to declare the selection and recommendation of the respondent as the registrar of the provincial environment tribunals by the SPSC as illegal and direct the commission to conduct recruitment process de novo on basis of merit.

A division bench of the SHC, headed by Justice Mohammad Shafi Siddiqui, after a preliminary hearing of the petition issued notices to the SPSC and others and called their comments on July 25.