The Supreme Court of Pakistan has held that time-scale promotion is neither a regular service promotion nor a legal right of employees, but rather a policy-based concession that can only be extended to employees who clearly fall within the scope of the relevant policy.
According to the detailed judgment approved for reporting, a two-member bench comprising Justice Muhammad Shafi Siddiqui and Justice Mian Gul Hassan Aurangzeb allowed a civil petition filed by the National Language Promotion Department and set aside the January 23, 2025 judgment of the Federal Service Tribunal.
The written judgment stated that the Federal Service Tribunal had accepted an appeal filed by a departmental employee, Syed Sardar Ahmed Pirzada, and directed the department to consider his case for ante-dated time-scale promotion to BS-19 under the prevailing policy.
However, the Supreme Court held that the Tribunal had proceeded on the assumption that the relevant policy was applicable to the department without first making a legal determination on that issue.
The court observed that merely serving for a long period or completing a specified length of service does not automatically entitle an employee to be considered for time-scale promotion. An employee must clearly establish that he falls within the ambit of the relevant policy and is legally entitled to derive benefit from it.
Referring to earlier judicial precedents, the court noted that the Civil Servants Act, 1973 contains no definition of “time-scale promotion,” and therefore it cannot be regarded as part of the terms and conditions of service. It described time-scale promotion as a policy-based benefit intended to provide the financial advantage of a higher pay scale to employees in specific cadres where opportunities for regular promotion are limited.
The Supreme Court further held that the grant of a time scale is not equivalent to a regular promotion, as it does not change the designation of the post, upgrade the position, or require any amendment to recruitment and promotion rules.
The court ruled that unless an employee’s entitlement under the relevant policy is clearly established, no direction can be issued either to grant a time-scale promotion or even to consider such a claim. Consequently, it held that the decision of the Federal Service Tribunal could not be sustained in law.