Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Mian Saqib Nisar on Monday remarked that why not Punjab Chief Minister Shehbaz Sharif be issued notices over making illegal appointments.

Heading a three-member Supreme Court bench comprising Justice Umer Ata Bandial and Justice Ijazul Ahsan, the chief justice noted that Shehbaz Sharif was generally fond of appearing before the courts.

The court dismissed the Punjab government’s appeal against the regularization of the work-charge employees.

At the onset of the hearing, Additional Advocate General Punjab Asma Hamid conceded before the court that the appointments of work-charge employees on permanent and regular posts made in 2012 were illegal and against the prescribed rules.

To a query by the chief justice that on whose orders the appointments were made, Asma Hamid stated that these appointments were made on the directives of Punjab Chief Minister Shehbaz Sharif. “The government is declaring the appointments made by its own chief executive as illegal,” the chief justice remarked.

He said appointing work-charge employees on permanent posts in the public sector entities was a fraud with the law. He said apparently the appointments of work-charge employees seemed to be based on mala fide intentions.

The chief justice asked Asma Hamid as to why Punjab chief minister Shehbaz Sharif should not be issued notice for making illegal appointments. She, however, requested the chief justice not to attribute the word ‘illegal appointments’ to the chief minister.

The chief justice then decided to hear the case in Lahore Registry of the Supreme Court on April 7. He said if needed, Shehbaz Sharif will be summoned and he would have to appear as he is generally fond of appearing before the courts.

Published in Daily Times, April 3^rd 2018.