LAHORE: The Lahore High Court (LHC) has held that the mere recommendation of a person for a civil award does not create any right in his favour for the conferment of such an award.
The court directed the Secretary Cabinet Division and others to prepare a proper mechanism for the recommendation process for awarding civil awards.
The court also advised the respondents to evolve the mechanism as per the provisions of the Decorations Act, 1975, the instructions (general instructions and legal provision for making recommendations for Pakistan Civil Awards), the notification issued by the Cabinet Division on June 13, 2022, and the rules of business, 1973.
The court passed this order in a petition of Khushdil Khan Malik who approached the court for not awarding him a civil award even after the recommendations of the Director General Educational Institutions (DGEI) passed in his favour.
The DGEI selected the petitioner’s name in recognition of his long meritorious services and numerous achievements in the field of public service where he rendered services for the welfare of people and was strongly recommended for civil award of “Sitara-i-Imtiaz”.
However, this recommendation was then forwarded to the Ministry of Defence which did not further forward the same to the Cabinet Division; therefore, the petitioner’s name could not be considered for conferment of the Award.
The court observed that merely nominating the name of the petitioner by his parent department to the relevant division does not create any legal or fundamental right in his favour.
The court said that the petitioner, who was well aware of the fact, had approached this court after a considerable delay of about five months. The court added that he remained silent during the intervening period and failed to give any satisfactory answer in this regard, as well.
The court further observed that this court while exercising its jurisdiction under Article 199 of the Constitution can only declare the pre-existing right, but cannot create a new right through a declaration, as consideration for conferment of award is not a pre-existing right of the petitioner.
The court; therefore, directed the office to send a copy of the judgment to the secretary to the prime minister, secretary, cabinet division, Islamabad, secretary ministry of planning, development & reforms, secretary ministry of defence and director general, Federal Government Educational Institutions for compliance.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2023