Not once, twice or thrice: Usman Buzdar govt flouted SC order thousands of times

ISLAMABAD: There have been not just one, two, three, dozens, or hundreds of glaring violations of the Supreme Court’s order in the Anita Turab case during Usman Buzdar’s tenure but thousands. However, no one has been punished yet for these glaring violations.

In the Anita Turab case, the SC had laid down principles to shield government servants from politicisation by protecting their tenure. Unfortunately, the Buzdar government during its three-and-a-half-year tenure changed a record number of officers in complete disregard to the SC’s directions.

On Monday, The News reported that a staggering 3,000 officers against 421 key secretariat and field positions in the province were transferred during the Buzdar tenure without, in most cases, giving any reason in writing for these changes.

The Supreme Court of Pakistan in the Anita Turab case had set the following guidelines for the federal and provincial governments to protect the civilian bureaucracy from politicisation:

i) Appointments, Removals and Promotions: Appointments, removals and promotions must be made in accordance with the law and the rules made thereunder; where no such law or rule exists and the matter has been left to discretion, such discretion must be exercised in a structured, transparent, and reasonable manner and in the public interest.

ii) Tenure, posting and transfer: When the ordinary tenure for a posting has been specified in the law or rules made thereunder, such tenure must be respected and cannot be varied, except for compelling reasons, which should be recorded in writing and are judicially reviewable.

iii) Illegal orders: Civil servants owe their first and foremost allegiance to the law and the Constitution. They are not bound to obey orders from superiors that are illegal or are not in accordance with accepted practices and rule Const. based norms; instead, in such situations, they must record their opinion and, if necessary, dissent.

iv) OSD: Officers should not be posted as OSD except for compelling reasons, which must be recorded in writing and are judicially reviewable. If at all an officer is to be posted as OSD, such posting should be for the minimum period possible and if there is a disciplinary inquiry going on against him, such inquiry must be completed at the earliest.

The SC had said that although it is conscious that the aforesaid matters relate to decision making and administration of the machinery of the state, “we have recognised the need for ensuring that decision making in relation to tenure, appointments, promotions and transfers remains rule-based and is not susceptible to arbitrariness or absolute and unfettered discretion.”

Under the apex court’s direction, the copies of the judgment were sent to the Federal Secretary Establishment, the chief secretaries of the provinces, the Commissioner Islamabad Capital Territory and to the secretaries of all federal and provincial government departments. However, generally, this landmark judgment has been overlooked by the concerned authorities as the SC never followed it up.