MUHAMMAD SAJJAD HUSSAIN vs FEDERATION OF PAKISAN through Secretary Establishment Division S

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MUHAMMAD SAJJAD HUSSAIN VS FEDERATION OF PAKISAN through Secretary Establishment Division S. 21---National Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority (Service) Regulations, 2021---Notification SRO No.346(I)/2024 dated 25-01-2024---Constitution of Pakistan, Art. 199---Constitutional petition---Aggrieved person---Scope---Principle of locus poenitentiae---Applicability---Petitioner assailed appointment of respondent to the post of Director Strategy Management Office---Plea raised by authorities was that the petitioner was not an aggrieved person, therefore, petition was not maintainable---Validity---Recruitment process was tailored for such purpose and respondent was appointed as Director SMO without written test and transparent recruitment process such as the one that petitioner participated in, and the respondent was appointed to a post higher than that held by petitioner---Petitioner qualified the test of an aggrieved person for the purposes of Art. 199 of the Constitution---Creation of post in question without approval of Board, prescriptions of TORs for such post prescribing a minimum age less than the age prescribed for the office of Director in NPG-1 under National Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority (Service) Regulations, 2021, act of publishing Amended Regulations in the Official Gazette without presenting the same to NEECA Board and seeking its approval, together with stand-alone manner in which recruitment for the post of Director SMO was carried out in contrast to other posts during phase-1 of recruitment in NEECA involving IBA, all of which cumulatively tainted the recruitment process---Recruitment criteria and maximum age for the post of Director Strategy Management Office were prescribed in a mala fide manner to tailor recruitment process to benefit certain individual---Post of Director SMO was never legally created and terms and conditions for such position were never prescribed---Appointment of respondent was illegal, who had discharged services against the post of Director Strategy Management Office---Doctrine of locus poenitentiae could not protect illegal appointment of respondent---High Court declined to make any order regarding recovery which could not be affected from respondent for services that he had discharged while holding the office prior to issuance of a declaration that his appointment was illegal---High Court declared appointment of respondent together with creation of post of Director Strategy Management Office to be unlawful and of no legal effect---High Court also declared that Notification SRO No.346(I)/2024 dated 25-01-2024 was devoid of legal authority having never been approved by the NEECA Board---High Court directed that management of NEECA should not continue to act in breach of National Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority Act, 2016 and National Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority (Service) Regulations, 2021---Constitutional petition was allowed in circumstances.

MUHAMMAD SAJJAD HUSSAIN vs FEDERATION OF PAKISAN through Secretary Establishment Division S — 2026 PLC(CS) 386 ISLAMABAD

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