NUSRAT SHAHEEN vs SECRETARY SOCIAL WELFARE AND WOMEN DEVELOPMENT DEPARTMENT, MUZAFFARABAD Preamble

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NUSRAT SHAHEEN VS SECRETARY SOCIAL WELFARE AND WOMEN DEVELOPMENT DEPARTMENT, MUZAFFARABAD Preamble---Shifting of post from a development scheme to normal budget---Merit, determination of---Appointment on temporary / contract basis---Entitlement for permanent induction subsequently---Procedure---Petitioner, having initially been appointed as Lady Instructor against a scheme of Social Welfare and Women Development Department, was later appointed as Headmistress B-14 against a scheme named as Establishment of Employment and Women Development Centre---Petitioner assailed order whereby the High Court ordered to advertise the post-in-question and to place the matter before the Selection Committee for consideration---Stance of the petitioner was that a right had accrued in her favour as she occupied the post-in-question after determination of merit while post-in-question had subsequently been shifted from a development scheme to normal budget; hence, there was no need to advertise the post-in-question and place the matter before the Selection Committee for consideration---Validity---Pertinently, in Azad Jammu and Kashmir, the appointments in the service were regularized under the Azad Jammu and Kashm?r Civil Servants Act, 1976 and Rules made thereunder ; the spirit of said law emphasized that the appointment should be made on the basis of merit determined by the concerned selection authorities---Azad Jammu and Kashm?r Interim Constitution Act, 1974, has guaranteed the right of equality before law and equal treatment of law, thus, this right can only be enforced by following the prescribed mode for appointment by advertising the vacancies and determining the merit of the eligible candidates through a transparent selection process---Law does not admit any such mode that any person who has been appointed on temporary / contract basis and thereafter becomes entitled for permanent induction, it may amount to violate the constitutionally guaranteed fundamental right of equality before law and the enforced law regulating the mode of appointment---In the present case, the appointment orders of the petitioner postulated that she was appointed purely on temporary basis against a development scheme---Later on, the posts of that scheme were shifted to normal budget (vide notification dated 11.10.2010)---After shifting of the post to the normal budget it was enjoined upon the concerned authority to fill in the same after following the procedure prescribed in the statutory law i.e. Azad Jammu and Kashmir Civil Servants Act, 1976, but the same had not been done as yet ---Without following the due process of law, the services of the petitioners could not be regularized---Thus, stance taken by the petitioners was ill-founded, hence, was repelled---Findings recorded by the High Court in the impugned judgment were in consonance with the statutory law dealing with the subject matter, however, the impugned judgment was modified to the extent that the selection process shall be conducted within a period of four months from communication of present order---Petition was disposed of accordingly.

NUSRAT SHAHEEN vs SECRETARY SOCIAL WELFARE AND WOMEN DEVELOPMENT DEPARTMENT, MUZAFFARABAD Preamble — 2025 PLC(CS) 1046 SUPREME-COURT-AZAD-KASHMIR

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