Hiring of new Punjab law secretary: Provincial govt has powers to scrap recruitment process

ISLAMABAD: In its hunt for a new Punjab law secretary, advertised a day earlier, the provincial government has vested in itself the power “to dispense with the entire recruitment process without assigning any reason.”

It implies that the government may do away with the recruitment process to appoint anyone, found suitable for the position.

Bahadar Ali Khan, who retired as the registrar of the Lahore High Court (LHC) nine days ago on September 1, has been cited as the new likely law secretary. The incumbent secretary, Nazir Ahmad Ganjana, a retired district and sessions judge, was appointed in June 2019 and is continuing till today. He has been creating hurdles in different tasks, an informed official told The News. Therefore, it has been decided to replace him.

The official said that Ganjana opposed the replacement of the Punjab Judicial Service Act, a copy of the draft is available with The News, as recommended by a panel of the advisory committee of the LHC. A major highlight of proposed replacement is the enhancement of the retirement age of district judiciary judges and staff of judicial service by two years with the superannuation age enhancing to sixty-two years from sixty years.

It also said that the judges and staff will be entitled in accordance with the rules, to the pay, sanctioned for such posts by the LHC chief justice. It recommended that the pay of a district & sessions judge should be 75 percent of an LHC judge; salary of an additional district and sessions judge should be 50 percent of an LHC justice; pay of a senior civil judge should be 40 percent of an LHC judge; and salary of a civil judge should be 25 percent of an LHC justice.

The proposed law further said that the pay of the staff will be in consonance with the LHC employees in the equivalent scale. However, where a judge or a member of the staff has been dismissed or removed from service or reduced in rank he will, in the event of order of dismissal, removal from service or reduction in rank being set aside, be entitled to such arrears of pay as the authority setting aside such order may determine.

The draft was proposed to regulate the appointment, terms and conditions of service in respect of the judicial service in Punjab. It provided that the LHC chief justice will have the financial autonomy for the courts under the general superintendence and control of the LHC within the limit of the sanctioned budget without seeking the approval of the ministry of finance/the provincial finance department.

He will be competent to make re-appropriation of the amounts from one head to another, create new posts, abolish old posts, or change their nomenclature and to up-grade or downgrade as per the requirement of the respective posts, and fix the pay and allowances of the judge and staff. The budget of the Punjab judicial service will be sanctioned in consultation with the chief justice.

The new law secretary will have the pay package of grade-21/MP-1 on contract basis (period unspecified). The applicant should be of minimum 45 years and maximum 63 years of age.

The Punjab government has prescribed quite high qualifications and experience for the aspirants. An applicant should have done PhD (Law) or LLM or bar-at-law (50 percent marks on the aggregate) or should have equivalent qualification from a reputed university/institution, recognised by the Higher Education Commission.

In case, the aspirant has done LLB or bar-at-law, he/she should have twenty-two years professional experience. If he has done LLM, he should have seventeen-year experience. In case of PhD, fifteen years’ experience is required. All contenders should have such experience in legislative drafting; decision making involving interpretation of laws either as a judicial officer or advocate or civil servant; and teaching and/or research in law or law related subjects.

It is required that the candidate should demonstrate skills and abilities of a high degree of understanding of constitutional and legal framework, civil and criminal justice systems and regulatory laws or regulations and their impact. He should have excellent understanding and expression of English language.

It has been stated that the job of the law secretary is highly challenging, involving dedication, high quality legal expertise and professional approach. The responsibilities include supervision/management of law department; documents relating to litigation, interpretation of Constitution, legislation and legal instruments; legal advice/opinion on assorted legal issues, including service matters; scrutiny of judicial decisions for purposes of appeal, revision, review; legal research, preparation/drafting of concept papers, summaries and other correspondent; and administration matters including accounts and finance.