Supreme Court restores CGA 2014 recruitment rules, nullifies FST ruling

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court has restored the Controller General of Accounts Recruitment Rules 2014 and nullified a Federal Service Tribunal (FST) ruling that had struck down the rules and ordered their revision.

In its written judgment, Supreme Court Justice Ayesha A Malik held that the service tribunal had exceeded its jurisdiction by interfering in policy matters and directing the executive to reformulate recruitment rules.

The court observed that the tribunal could not assume the role of the executive or direct the government to frame rules afresh, adding that it should have remained within the limits of its jurisdiction.

The case arose after a government employee challenged the 2014 recruitment rules before the FST, arguing that they did not provide him with the desired promotion pathway. On October 17, 2022, the tribunal declared the rules invalid and directed the authorities to revise them.

The Supreme Court noted that the employee had already been promoted from junior auditor to senior auditor on January 1, 2021, under the same rules he subsequently challenged.

It held that direct promotion from junior auditor to assistant accounts officer was not a legal entitlement.

The judgment said the government had the authority to amend service structures and recruitment rules in accordance with administrative requirements. It noted that in May 2019, the promotion quota from junior auditor to senior auditor (BS-16) had been increased from 10 per cent to 50 per cent.

The court further observed that the Establishment Division had approved amendments to the rules in 2017, 2019 and 2021. Subsequent approvals and the continued implementation of the rules supported their legal validity, it said.

Referring to Article 212 of the Constitution, the Supreme Court said service tribunals’ jurisdiction was limited to matters concerning the terms and conditions of government employees’ service.

The tribunal should not interfere where recruitment rules did not infringe an employee’s fundamental or legal rights, the judgment said.

The FST had previously invalidated the rules on the grounds that initial approval from the Establishment Division had not been obtained.

Earlier, the Supreme Court had set aside a service tribunal ruling concerning the seniority of employees in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, directing that their seniority be restored to its original position.

A 13-page judgment authored by Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar ruled that the employees’ regularisation would take effect from March 7, 2018, and that the delay in publishing their regularisation notifications in the official gazette could not prejudice their legal rights.