SHC tells its registrar to submit comments on plea seeking promotions to fill vacant posts

The Sindh High Court (SHC) has directed its registrar to file comments on a petition of SHC employees seeking the initiation of process for promotions to vacant posts of assistant registrar/reader in the court.

The direction came on the petition of Mohammad Saleem Baloch and others who submitted in the petition that they had been working as senior office associates and were entitled to be considered for the promotion to the vacant posts of assistant registrar/reader (now court associate) under rule 7(1) of the prevailing High Court Establishment Rules 2006.

The petitioners stated that the last promotion to the post of assistant registrar/reader was made in 2011 under the High Court Establishment Rules and with the subsequent retirement of most of officials, 31 posts were lying vacant and affairs of various branches were being run by assistants (now senior office associate) on own-pay-scale basis.

The court employees said the SHC had already observed that efforts shall be made to fill the permanent posts lying vacant within a reasonable period of time and the stop-gap arrangement will not, under any circumstances, last for more than six months.

The counsel for the petitioners submitted that the employees had been waiting for their promotions strictly in accordance with relevant provisions of the law but they had come to know in 2015 that the SHC’s administration committee in its meeting had created 40 posts for junior court associates in grade 16 and 50 percent of the posts shall be filled by initial appointments.

The counsel submitted that most of the assistants were at the verge of retirement and considered the creation of such posts as impediments in their way of promotion to assistant registrar/reader.

He submitted that the SHC’s administration committee had the power to create posts under the High Court Establishment Rules 2006 but they were subject to amendment. He argued that till now no amendment had been made by the full court of the SHC, which was mandatory; hence, the creation of posts had no sanctity in the eyes of the law. The counsel submitted that the petitioners’ right to be considered for promotion to the post of assistant registrar/reader had been created under the prevailing High Court Establishment Rules with the availability of the vacancy, and the employees could not be deprived of it even by amending the rules since it would have a retrospective effect.

He contended that 40 posts of junior court associates had been created, but subject to future amendment in the aforesaid newly created posts and change of nomenclature in the existing post in the Sindh High Court Establishment (appointment & conditions of service) Rules 2006. The counsel said the posts had been created subject to ex-post factor approval by the full court, and termed it a grave violation of the rules.

The court was requested to declare the exercise of depriving petitioners of their lawful right to be considered for promotion by adopting unauthorised modus operandi as unlawful and direct the SHC’s administration committee to start the process of promotion under the Rule 7 of High Court Establishment Rules 2006. The petitioners also sought an injunction to set aside the impugned creation of posts for junior court associates.

The counsel submitted that in the schedule Part –I of the Sindh High Court Establishment (appointment and conditions of service) Rules 2006, the senior translators assistants could have been promoted to the post of assistant registrars and readers in BS-17. The registrar submitted that the post of the registrar had been upgraded to BS-18 by a former chief justice of the SHC. The court directed the registrar to submit both notifications before the court on the next date of hearing.

Regarding the criteria for promotions which was changed in the meeting of the administrative committee of the SHC, the petitioners’ counsel submitted that the new criteria for the appointment of junior court associates in BS-16 called for filling 50 per cent of the posts through initial appointment and the remaining 50 per cent through promotions but the matter was not placed before the full court for approval. The registrar of the SHC requested time to submit a write-up on the issue. The court directed the registrar to submit the same by January 13.