The federal government approached the Islamabad High Court on Monday, seeking suspension of court's earlier order against promotions of bureaucrats. Justice Aamir Farooq took up the case and after a preliminary hearing of the petition issued notices to civil servants who had challenged the said promotions recommended in May by the Central Selection Board (CSB).
Sixty-four other bureaucrats filed petitions with the IHC against the promotions, saying they had been denied promotions because of a divisive formula the federal government introduced in 2012. Earlier, Justice Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui had set aside the promotions of over 300 bureaucrats while declaring the entire process illegal and directed the federal government to revise the promotion criteria that allows CSB to assign 15 percent marks - on integrity and personal reputation of officers - while setting 85 percent marks for overall performance of the officer.
He also directed CSB to re-consider promotions of those officers whose names were deferred during the recent CSB meeting. In some special cases, the board gave nine additional marks for 58-year-olds and above who could not attend the mandatory staff college course (for promotions from grade 18-22) due to unavoidable circumstances.
The federal government through Additional Attorney General (AAG) Afnan Karim Kundi stated that Justice Siddiqui had directed the federal government to process the promotion cases of the civil servants again within a month which is a shorter period than the 60-day limitation for filing the appeal before the Supreme Court. The government's petition contended that it intends to file an appeal against the IHC's order before the Supreme Court and requested the court to issue a restraining order against the execution of the said order. The court adjourned further hearing in this matter till August 7.