Upholding the decision given by the Sindh Service Tribunal, the Supreme Court (SC) on Tuesday rejected the appeals filed by the Sindh government against the seniority of police officers, reported 24NewsHD TV channel.
In a nine-page verdict penned down by Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar, the judge ordered that the seniority of the officers should be restored to what it was before 2019.
The apex court ruled that the restoration of seniority was a constitutional right, and that the affected officers were entitled to promotion on time.
The court said that the case pertained to the seniority of assistant sub-inspectors who had been recruited in 1990.
“They had been fired in 1991 on political grounds,” it said, adding, “In 1994, the IGP Sindh reinstated them.”
However, the court went on to say, in the seniority list issued in 2019, the dates of officers on which they were recruited were changed. “They were not issued show-cause notices prior to changing dates of their recruitment.”
The Sindh government had prayed to the court to determine the seniority of officers in light of recruitments made in 1991 and 1992, and not 1990.
The Sindh Service Tribunal had declared the seniority list of 2019 illegal, and ordered that their seniority should be determined on the basis of their recruitment in 1990.
Reporter: Amanat Gishkori