Shoulder promotions in Sindh since 2002 declared void

The Supreme Court on Wednesday declared all shoulder promotions in Sindh since 2002 null and void, including those through the Sindh Civil Servants (Regularisation of Absorption) Ordinance, 2011, being violative of the provisions of the Constitution.
A three-member bench of the Justice Tassaduq Hussain Jillani, Justice Asif Saeed Khan Khosa and Justice Ameer Hani Muslim announced the verdict and declared void appointments of 15 Assistant Commissioners over and above the quota set by the Chief Minister and issued directions to all Assistant Commissioners to send them back to their previous posts.
The 139-page judgement authored by Justice Ameer Hani Muslim also declared the benefit of 'absorptions' extended by the Sindh government since 1994, with or without backdated seniority as ultra vires to the Constitution, in view of the statement made by the Additional Advocate-General during the hearing that impugned validation instruments had granted legal cover to employees/civil servants, who had been absorbed since 1994.
The court order also said that lawmaking relating to promotions and appointments of civil servants was illegal, adding that if parliament repeated such acts that were illegal, it would be difficult to term them to have been done with good intention.
The court also held all out-of-turn promotions made under Section 9-A of the Sindh Civil Servants Act of 1973 by the Sindh government to an employee or civil servant with or without backdated seniority since January 22, 2002, when Section 9-A was inserted through Ordinance IV of 2002, as ultra vires of the Constitution.
"All Misc. Applications made by the absorbees in which interim orders were passed by this Court restraining the Government from complying with the orders of this Court on May 02. 2012 stand vacated," says the judgement. The court ruled that all the re-employment/rehiring of the retired Civil/Government Servants under the impugned instruments being violative of the Constitution were also declared null.
The court directed that the nominations made by the Chief Minister in excess of the quota given by Rule 5(4) (b) of the West Pakistan Civil Service (Executive Branch) Rules, 1964, are without lawful authority and all the 15 nominees (Assistant Commissioners) are reverted to their original positions.
The court also declared the impugned legislations, including the Sindh Civil Servants (Regularisation of Absorption) Ordinance, 2011 (Ordinance III of 2011), the Sindh Civil Servants (Regularisation of Absorption) Act, 2011 (Act XVII of 2011), the Sindh Civil Servants (Amendment) Ordinance, 2012, the Sindh Civil Servants (Second Amendment) Ordinance, 2012, the Sindh Civil Servants (Amendment) Act, 2013 and the Sindh Civil Servants (Second Amendment) Act, 2013 as violative of the provisions of the Constitution.
The court directed that a copy of this judgement be sent to the Chief Justice, Sindh High Court through Registrar for circulating it amongst the learned Judges. It also directed that a copy of the judgement should also be sent to Chief Secretaries of all provinces as well as the Secretary of the Establishment Division, with the direction to streamline the service structure of civil servants in line with principles laid down in this judgement. The court also directed that the Chief Secretary and Secretary, Services, Sindh, to comply with this judgement in letter and spirit and submit a compliance report within three weeks.