ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court has nullified the promotion of Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) officers, including incumbent Chairman Dr Mohammad Irshad, from Grade-21 to Grade-22.
The decision of promotion of these officers was taken by the High Powered Selection Board (HPSB) headed by the prime minister.
A three-member bench of the apex court, headed by Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar, heard the petition filed by Raana Ahmed, challenging the decision of the High Powered Selection Board.
Raana, being a senior officer of Grade-21, was allegedly ignored by the HPSB in the promotion process. The court, after annulling the decision, directed HPSB to reconvene its meeting and decide the promotions of all concerned on merit as per seniority and record and submit a report in this regard to the court within thirty days.
The Supreme Court also dismissed appeals in the promotions of grade 20 and grade 21 officials, and upheld an Islamabad High Court (IHC) order that asked the federal government to reconsider the promotions of over 300 officials, including secretary to the prime minister Fawad Hassan Fawad.
Barrister Syed Ali Zafar had filed the petition on behalf of the petitioner, Raana Ahmed. Although the counsel for the petitioner claimed the SC set aside the grade 22 promotions of officials working in various cadres, but the establishment secretary Syed Tahir Shahbaz said that because the petitioner challenged the promotion of three IRS officials – Dr Irshad, Chaudhry Safdar and Tasnim Rehman – only their cases would be sent to the HPSB for reconsideration, and that too after a written court order.
Zafar argued before the court that the petitioner had an outstanding and unblemished 34-year service record, was at number six in the Seniority List and entitled to a promotion to grade 22.
However, he said the HPSB, in a meeting held on Aug 1, 2016, wanted to promote its favourites and in order to give them undue favours, chose to promote individuals at seniority levels 10 and 16 – bypassing individuals who were ahead of them in terms of merit.
Establishment secretary confirmed that Ishaq Dar was present and the FBR chairman was absent but was consulted on phone only. The chief justice inquired as to under what capacity Ishaq Dar attended the meeting.
Justice Ijazul Ahsan, another member of the bench questioned under what information Ishaq Dar had about the FBR officers, which was not available to the FBR chairman.
The chief justice observed that the exercise of powers could not be arbitrary, capricious and whimsical. Justice Ijaz said that Raana being the female officer was not promoted. Advancing his arguments, The learned counsel further submitted that the worst injustice was that in order to bypass honest and dedicated civil servants like Raana Ahmed, HPSB coined a vague phrase that the officer did not enjoy good reputation in terms of competence and leadership.
Additional Attorney General Rana Waqar, representing the federal government, said the petition was not maintainable because the petitioner had previously filed and then withdrawn the petition from the IHC to file it before the SC.
