ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Thursday dismissed the petitions of the National Highway and Motorways Police (NH&MP) employees wherein they requested the court not to repatriate them to their parent departments. The court ordered action against the officials who appointed these employees to permanent posts in different departments of the NH&MP illegally. “The petitioners were permanently absorbed in the NH&MP without adopting a legal course therefore they are not in a position to claim equitable rights. The officials who appointed the petitioners in violation of the law should be dealt with by the department,” said the judgement authored by Justice Noor Ul Haq N. Qureshi. The 12-page judgement said that the parent departments of these employees must not create any hurdles in their repatriation. “It is observed that with flux of time, the lien of petitioners might be no more available therefore their parent departments are directed not to create hurdles in their repatriation and not to deprive them of their legitimate rights, as they have been repatriated in the light of a Supreme Court judgement,” the court order reads. In the previous government 356 employees posted in different government departments on deputation were made permanent, but the incumbent government ordered repatriation of all such employees to their parent departments in the light of a Supreme Court verdict dated June 12, 2013. However, 51 employees of the NH&MP challenged the government’s order in the IHC. During the hearing, Deputy Attorney General Raja Khalid Mehmood told the court that these employees were appointed on a permanent basis in violation of the merit policy. He said that these officials were appointed on the orders of the then prime minister.