1. SHAHID ANWAR BAJWA, J.--- The petitioners are qualified doctors and have claimed in the petition that they were admitted as Fellows of the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Pakistan on April, 13, 2006. An advertisement was placed in daily "DAWN" dated 2-7-2007 by the Health Department Government of Sindh for recruitment of Specialist Cadre Doctors BPS-18. These included ENT Specialist and Gynecologist. The petitioners applied and eventually in March, 2008 under the signatures of Minister of Health, Government of Sindh, on the letterhead of the Minister, the petitioners were informed as under: --- "Health Department, Government of Sindh is pleased to announce the final result of test purely on merit as conducted by the N.T.S. On 4th November, 2007 for information of the candidates and action implementation by the concerned authorities. According to the result communicated by N.T.S. You Dr. Mariyam Jamila daughter of Ghulam Qadir Jatoi, Domicile Sukkur have been declared successful in category of specialist cadre Doctor (BS-18) Gynecologist as per the criteria (minimum 40 marks).
(2) Offer letters in this regard will be processed/issued in due course and will be mailed to you through registered post/courier at respective address. You are request to please acknowledge receipt of this result.
2. ' This letter was not followed by any offer letter or appointment letter and consequently this Constitutional Petition was filed by the petitioners with the following prayers:---
(A) To declare the acts of the respondents Nos . 1-2, in not issuing posting orders to the petitioners, is illegal, unfair, mala fide, in violation of fundamental rights of petitioners are also against principles of natural justice.
(B) To direct the respondent No,1 to issue posting orders to the petitioners, without further delay.
3. ' Learned counsel for the petitioners submitted that once a letter has been issued by the Minister the petitioners acquired a right and therefore must be issued appointment letter and consequent posting letters. Learned counsel relied upon Province of Sindh through Chief Secretary Sindh and another v. Suhail Jabbar Malik C.P. No,426-K of 2009 decided on 1-4-2009, Muhammad Farooq M.
4. Memon Advocate v. Government of Sindh through its Chief Secretary, Karachi 1986 CLC 1408, Manthar Ali M. Jatoi v. The Government of Sindh through Chief Secretary, Sindh Secretariat Karachi 1988 PLC (C.S.) 344 and C.P. No,2193 of 2006 Salman Adil Siddiqui and others v. Province of Sindh and others decided on 5-9-2007.
5. ' Mr. Adnan Kareem, learned Addl. Advocate-General submitted that the Minister is not the competent authority under the rules and it is first occasion that he has come across that the Minister has, on his own letterhead, informed a person of his selection. Learned Addl. Advocate- General further submitted by referring to para No,6 of the comments that all posts of Specialist Cadre Doctors (BS-18), medical officers (BS-17), and staff nurses (BS-16) have surrendered to Sindh Public Service Commission with advice to check the assessment interview of successful candidates of National Testing Service Pakistan for their regular recruitment as per Government Policy. Addl. Advocate-General further submitted that Public Service Commission conducted tests and interviews, but the petitioners chose not to appear before the Federal Public Service Commission. Regarding claimed recruitment of others by referring para-4 of the Additional Counter Affidavit and submitted that those have been recruited on contract basis under Special Program and will be relieved upon expiry of contract. While exercising his right of rebuttal, learned counsel for the petitioner referred to para-2 of the Affidavit in rejoinder of petitioner No,1 and stated that she denied that cases of the petitioners were referred to SPSC. She further stated that even if her claim was forwarded to SPSC for check and assessment, but the other persons identically placed have been issued posting orders.
6. ' We have considered the submissions made by the learned counsel and have also gone through the record.
7. ' In Suhail Jabbar Malik's case (supra) the respondents applied for the post of Assistant Prosecutor General etc., in response to an advertisement placed in a daily newspaper by the SPSC. They appeared in the test and were declared successful. They were called for interview, and they appeared. Thereafter they were offered the posts. However some time later they came to know that their cases have been withheld for want of approval of the competent authorities. They challenged the same. The petition was allowed and the Government was directed to issue posting orders. The Supreme Court noted the contention in para-4 of its order in the following words: "The main pleas which were agitated before us on behalf of the petitioners by the learned Additional Advocate-General that (i) the respondents are having no vested right to claim appointment against the aforesaid posts as they have not been issued appointment letters by the competent authority and mere recommendations of the Public Service Commission to the Government for their appointment by itself not vested them with any right, and (ii) that the selection and appointment was processed by the Care Taker Government and which was not competent to do so. These pleas of the petitioners were vehemently controverted by the learned counsel for the private respondents by contending that both the pleas were not legally maintainable."
8. ' The honourable Supreme Court after observing that when the whole process, admittedly, was completed, it is not open to the authority to act on its sweet will without any sound reason to deprive a large number of eligible candidates. In Muhammad Farooq M. Memon's case (supra) applications for the post of Civil Judge were invited by SPSC. The petitioner applied and was declared successful. The Government intimated the petitioner that he was being considered for appointment of the post of Civil Judge and he was called upon to fill up the requisite pro formas.
9. This was done within the prescribed period and medical examination of the petitioner was also conducted. Thereafter the petitioner was not issued appointment letter although he was at serial No,9 on the list of successful candidates for 12 vacancies for the posts of Civil Judges. It was conceded by the A.A.-G. That there was no material with the Government against the petitioner and consequently the writ petition was allowed. In Manthar Ali M. Jatio's case (supra), the facts were that the petitioner was working in the judicial department of Government of Sindh up to July, 1984. He resigned from the service. Thereafter the petitioner appeared before the Public Service Commission and was placed at serial No,3 in the merit list. The petitioner was informed accordingly. The Government called him to fill the requisite forms which he did and medical examination was conducted. The notification in respect of 22 selected candidates out of 25 was issued, 'but the petitioner was not amongst those selected candidates. The Division Bench first held that nature of recommendation of Sindh Public Service Commission, was, that such recommendation was binding on the Government unless there is a material and valid grounds for refusal to appoint the petitioner on the post for which he was selected by the Sindh Public Service Commission. Since the only material against the petitioner was that the petitioner was an active political worker, withholding of appointment of petitioner on the ground of his being a political worker was not valid. In circumstances writ petition was allowed and the Government was directed to implement the recommendation of Public Service Commission. The facts in Salman Adil Siddiqui's case (supra) were similar.
10. ' In all of the four cases relied upon by the learned counsel for the petitioner the common fact was that there were recommendations by the Public Service Commission, after such recommendation the Government had not issued the appointment orders and the Courts intervened to compel the Government. In the present case admittedly there is no recommendation of the Public Service Commission and therefore the case-law cited upon by the learned counsel for the petitioner are clearly distinguishable.
11. ' In the present case the only material brought on record are two letters written by the Minister on his own letterhead informing the petitioners that they have been selected and their cases will be processed and offer letters issued in due course. Under Rule 4(1) of the Sindh Civil Servant (Appointment, Promotion and Transfer) Rules 1974, for all posts BS-18 excluding post of Deputy Commissioner, Superintendent of police, Senior Civil Judge and Additional District Judges, the competent authority is the Chief Secretary. In fact reading of all, the rules indicates that Minister does not figure in the hierarchy of the competent authorities at all. When the Minister is not a competent authority how could the Minister inform the petitioners that they have been selected. In any case since the letter written by a Minister is the letter written by a non-competent person, no rights or consequences can flow from such a document.
12. ' Mr. Adnan Kareem submitted that posts have been surrendered to the Sindh Public Service Commission and the petitioners did not appear before the Sindh Public Service Commission. There is a categorical statement by the Government authorities that posts have been surrendered and this position is not disputed by the petitioners. The letter written in July, 2008 by Deputy Secretary Health to the Sindh Public Service Commission has been placed on record and it is clearly stated in the letter that all the candidates who were successful in the written test conducted by the N.T.S. Were referred to SPSC for interviews. In the petition no statement whatsoever have been made in this regard. Learned counsel for the petitioner submitted that other persons without process of SPSC have been recruited. There are two reasons that such a contention cannot help the petitioners. Firstly it has been clearly stated in the comments filed by the department that all posts of Specialist Cadre Doctors (BS-18), medical officers (BS-17), and staff nurses (BS-16) have surrendered to Sindh Public Service Commission with advice to check the assessment/interview of successful candidates of National Testing Service Pakistan for their regular recruitment as per Government Policy and only persons have been recruited on contract basis under a Special Program and will be relieved after expiry of contracts. Secondly even if some one is recruited in violation of law, though it can provide a valid ground to the petitioner or any other person to file a petition in the nature of quo warranto but no one can claim that he/she be given the same treatment though it may be in violation of law.
13. ' Result of above the discussion is that this petition is devoid of merits and consequently is dismissed in limine.