SC maintains ban on recruitments

The Supreme Court Tuesday maintained ban on recruitments in government institutions before upcoming general election with the direction to Islamabad High Court (IHC) to decide the provinces' petitions filed against the ECP notification within one week. A three-member bench, headed by Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar, hearing a suo motu case referred the matter to a division bench of the IHC headed by Justice Aamer Farooq to conduct day-to-day hearing and decide the provinces' petitions filed against the ECP notification within a week.
Secretary Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), Babar Fateh Yaqoob Malik, stated that the ban on recruitment was imposed after media reports and general public moved ECP against recruitment in the government departments before the election. He submitted that the recruitments in the government's institutions were halted to prevent pre-poll rigging, adding the federal and provincial public service commissions were exempted from the recruitment ban.
The advocate general Punjab stated that they have filed writ petitions against the ECP notifications and requested the chief justice to constitute a larger bench to hear the writ petitions. The AG Khyber Pakhtunkhwa said that in their province, a private complaint was filed against the ECP order, which the Peshawar High Court had dismissed. He said the KPK government intends to file a writ petition against the notification.
The AG Balochistan also stated that a private complaint filed against notification was dismissed and the provincial government also intends to file the writ petition against the ECP notification. The same thing was stated by the AG Sindh. The Chief Justice directed the advocates general of all the four provinces to transfer all the petitions to the IHC. The court held that the ECP's decision will hold the field until final decision of the IHC.
During the proceedings, the Chief Justice observed that under Article 218 of the Constitution, it is the responsibility of the ECP to hold fair, free and transparent elections. The CJP had taken a suo motu notice against the ECP's April 11 order, which imposed a ban on recruitment of public servants in federal, provincial and local government institutions to ensure transparency in the upcoming general election.
In an order sent to the federal and provincial governments, the ECP had stated that the ban would not affect recruitment through public service commissions. The move aimed at discouraging any pre-poll rigging by using government jobs as an incentive. The ECP had halted implementation of all developmental schemes approved after April 1, 2018. Transfer of funds from one scheme to another was also halted.
The ECP had also banned the transfer of previously allocated development funds to other heads. On April 2, 2018, the ECP had barred public office-holders from using public money to promote themselves ahead of the elections. The ECP had sent to the provincial chief secretaries letters pointing out that the Commission was busy in preparations for the upcoming elections and various stakeholders had reported that several public officeholders, including ministers, members of the national and provincial assemblies and party leaders, were announcing development schemes and fixing inaugural plaques to woo voters ahead of the general election.