Muhammad Yaqoob vs Registrar, High Court of Balochistan S — 2026 MLD 592 QUETTA-HIGH-COURT-BALOCHISTAN

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Muhammad Yaqoob VS Registrar, High Court of Balochistan S. 9---Civil servants act (XIV of 1973), S. 9---Balochistan Civil Servants Act (IX of 1974), S. 8---Promotion---Antedated promotion---Scope---Petitioner (District and Sessions Judge ) sought antedated promotion to the post of District and Sessions Judge (BPS-21) from the date his juniors were promoted---Validity---Departmental promotion committee in its meeting recommended the promotion of the petitioner along with others, but the name of the petitioner was deferred due to pendency of departmental inquiry/proceedings against him, though later on, he was exonerated of the charges and subsequently promoted to the post of District and Sessions Judge (BPS-21)---Petitioner claimed that his promotion should take effect from the date his juniors were promoted, invoking the principle of locus poenitentiae and urging that deferment of his case was unjustified, as the inquiry initiated against him was frivolous and ultimately resulted in exoneration---Record revealed that the petitioner was deferred due to an ongoing inquiry, and the departmental committee acted in accordance with the established rules and procedure by withholding his promotion until the final outcome of the proceedings---Deferment of a civil servant's case on account of pending disciplinary proceedings or inquiry is a standard administrative practice and cannot be termed as mala fide or illegal---Once the impediment (pendency of inquiry) was removed upon the petitioner's exoneration, the competent authority immediately considered his case and granted him promotion---Principle of antedated promotion is not an automatic right of a civil servant upon exoneration, unless it is shown that the deferment was actuated by malice or that the junior's promotion was made in supersession of the senior without lawful justification---In the present case, the junior officers were promoted at a time when the petitioner's case was legitimately deferred due to the pending inquiry against him---No vested right accrued to the petitioner to claim promotion from a retrospective date when he was not cleared from the disciplinary charges at the relevant time---High Court held that a civil servant is entitled to promotion only from the date of actual assumption of charge or from the date recommendations are approved by the competent authority, and retrospective or antedated promotion cannot be claimed as a matter of right unless specifically provided for in the rules or justified by exceptional circumstances of administrative lapse---Petition being devoid of merit was dismissed.

Muhammad Yaqoob vs Registrar, High Court of Balochistan S — 2026 MLD 592 QUETTA-HIGH-COURT-BALOCHISTAN

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