SC declares all policies, quotas related to govt employees’ children ‘unconstitutional’

Islamabad: The Supreme Court accepted the appeal of the General Post Office (GPO) and declared all the policies, packages and quotas related to the children of government employees as unconstitutional.

According to the details, Justice Naeem Afghan of the SC issued an 11-page judgment on the case and annulled the 2021 decision of the Peshawar High Court (PHC).

In the judgment, the Prime Minister's Package for Employment Policy related to quota and its office menu, along with Section 11-A of the Sindh Civil Servants Rules, 1974, were also declared null and void.

The court also invalidated sub-clause IV of section X of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Civil Servants Rules 1989 and clause XII of Balochistan Civil Servants Rules 2009.

The judgment said that the quota of widows or child in government jobs without advertisement or open merit is contrary to Article III, IV and V sub-clause II, Article XXV and Article XXVII of the Constitution of Pakistan.

The court said that all the provincial governments, including the federal, should end the policy of employing the children of government employees without advertisement or open merit, but the court decision will not apply to the quota already given to the children of government employees.

The Supreme Court stated that the decision would not apply to the legal heirs of the martyrs in terrorist incidents and the packages and policies received by the heirs of the martyrs.

The court said that even the prime minister has no authority to relax the quota rules.

In this regard, it was stated that good governance cannot be achieved by adopting unequal treatment and getting jobs under quota is against merit as well as discrimination.

A citizen named Muhammad Jalal had approached the court to get a Grade-4 job after his father's retirement on medical grounds.

The PHC had directed Muhammad Jalal to be employed on contract, but the GPO had filed a petition in the Supreme Court against the PHC's decision.