NAEEM KHAN NIAZI vs FEDERATION OF PAKISTAN THROUGH SECRETARY, MINISTRY OF INTERIOR, GOVERNMENT OF PAKISTAN, IS

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NAEEM KHAN NIAZI VS FEDERATION OF PAKISTAN THROUGH SECRETARY, MINISTRY OF INTERIOR, GOVERNMENT OF PAKISTAN, ISLAMABAD. Promotion---Vacancies arising in 2015---Departmental Promotion Committee (DPC) delayed for two years by department due to stay orders---Civil servants' right to be considered for promotion from the date of vacancy---Scope---The case of the petitioners, who were then Sub-Inspectors, was that the promotion of the petitioners to the post of Inspector (BPS-16) should have been considered from August, 2015 when 25 vacancies to the post of 'Inspector' occurred---Departmental Promotion Committee (DPC) was delayed till 2017 due to stay orders---Upon vacation of stay orders petitioners were promoted to the post of Inspectors---It was the case of the petitioners that they should have been considered for promotion w.e.f. August 2015---Held: The delay in the present case could not be regarded as justified---It was occasioned by litigation arising out of irregularities in the seniority list prepared by the department itself, which litigation was ultimately decided against the department---The stay orders, therefore, were a direct consequence of the department's own flawed exercise and not of any conduct attributable to the petitioners---In the present case, the petitioners were blameless, and the delay, spanning over two years, was excessive by any standard of reasonableness---To accept the department's argument would mean that even if such litigation dragged on for a decade or more, eligible officers would be deprived of promotion until the very end of their careers, thereby reducing the constitutional guarantee of fair consideration to a mere formality---Such an outcome could not be countenanced---The fair and lawful course, therefore, was to reckon the petitioners' promotion from the date the vacancies first arose in August 2015, notwithstanding the intervening delay---Impugned judgment passed by the service tribunal was set aside---Present petitions were converted into appeal and allowed, in circumstances.

NAEEM KHAN NIAZI vs FEDERATION OF PAKISTAN THROUGH SECRETARY, MINISTRY OF INTERIOR, GOVERNMENT OF PAKISTAN, ISLAMABAD — 2026 PLC(CS) 60 SUPREME-COURT

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