Delay in implementation of appeals: Supreme Court orders inquiries against govt officials

PESHAWAR: The Supreme Court (SC) on Tuesday ordered departmental inquiries against those officers and lower staff of provincial government departments who had delayed and time-barred implementation of appeals on different pretexts.

A three-member bench comprising Chief Justice Supreme Court Gulzar Ahmad, Justice Ijazul Hasan and Justice Faisal Arab issued the order while hearing appeals filed by Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government in various cases.

During the hearing, the Supreme Court bench expressed concern that most the government related appeals were time-barred and had been pending since long. The bench asked Advocate General Shumail Ahmad Butt as to why it happened mostly in government related cases and appeals.

The advocate general, who was present in the court, said that under the new standard operating procedures (SOPs) such appeals which were time-barred due to the negligence of authorities concerned were not filed in the Supreme Court and if needed that the relevant department would be asked to explain as to why an appeal had been time-barred.

In his remarks, Chief Justice Gulzar Ahmad said that apparently this practice was done deliberately so that the relief-seeking persons could not get any relief on time. Advocate General Shumail Ahmad Butt explained that under the Supreme Court’s directives the provincial government had initiated departmental inquiries against 196 officers and lower staff of different provincial government departments.

“And if necessary the provincial government would recover money from the officers who had caused loss to the national exchequer,” the advocate general said. Later, the Supreme Court bench approved an appeal pertaining to the employees of Mardan Development Authority and set aside the decision of Peshawar High Court.

Similarly, the bench dismissed the provincial government’s appeal against the restoration of some employees of Textbook Board Peshawar. The provincial government had taken the plea that these employees were terminated from service due to mistakes and errors in the textbooks. The employees had been restored by the Peshawar High Court against whom the provincial government had filed an appeal in the Supreme Court.

Justice Ijazul Hasan in his remarks said that how few people were declared guilty for errors in published books when the whole staff was responsible for it. “There are proofreading and review of unpublished materials while subject specialists review prior to publication,” the SC judge added. The bench dismissed the appeal after hearing provincial government’s arguments in the same case.