PESHAWAR: A division bench of the Peshawar High Court (PHC) Thursday stayed announcement of the results of civil judges’ examination conducted by NWFP Public Service Commission till the final decision in the case.
The bench, comprising Justice Ejaz Afzal Khan and Justice Miftahuddin Khan, also directed the petitioner civil judges, who were appointed on contract basis, to produce before the court the ordinance of the NWFP government under which they claim to have been regularised.
The bench was taking up the petition filed by 58 ad-hoc civil judges-cum-judicial magistrates, stating that they were appointed as civil judges-cum-judicial magistrates in Jan 2008, through a proper procedure by the PHC on contract basis for one year. They said that in the appointment letters the government had stated that the contract was extendable.
The petitioners claimed that the ANP-led provincial government had promised the judges that they would be regularised through an ordinance or a resolution from the NWFP Assembly.The petitioners prayed the PHC to restrain the NWFP Public Service Commission from finalising the results of tests and interviews conducted for the posts of civil judges.
The petitioners’ counsel Waseem Khattak informed the court that the NWFP governor with the consent of NWFP government passed an ordinance on September 24, under which 6,000 contract employees including the judicial officers were regularised. He contended that the PHC had appointed these judges through proper procedure that included test and interview for a one-year contract, adding that to advertise and fill these contractual seats by fresh law graduates through the commission would affect the independence of judiciary. He submitted that the judges had also acquired training, which was required for the judges’ appointment through Public Service Commission in Islamabad.
On this, the court directed the petitioners to produce the ordinance before the court as to know that whether the judicial officers were regularised or not. The court adjourned hearing in the case for 20th the instant.
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