IJAZ ANWAR, J. Through this petition under Article 199 of the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, 1973, the petitioner has challenged the validity of the office orders dated 21.3.2024, 02.4.2024 and notification dated 03.5.2024 of the respondents.
2. In his writ petition, the petitioner has averred that he was initially appointed as Lecturer (BPS-17) in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Higher Education Department "(HEC)", on the recommendation of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Public Service Commission way back in the year, 2012 and then was promoted to the post of Assistant Professor (BPS-18) in December 2022. He was then posted as Deputy Director (Admn), on deputation vide Notification dated 12.10.2021 in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Frontier Education Foundation "(the foundation)" where he filed a complaint against one Zahid Hussain, Acting Managing Director of the foundation against misusing his authority and irregularities. Consequently, an inquiry was conducted by the Provincial Inspection Team wherein the said director along with others were found involved in massive irregularities, and disciplinary action was recommended against them. They have also been issued Show Cause notices with a proposed penalty of removal from service, and the appointments being made by them were also canceled. While the said director firstly transferred the petitioner from the post of deputy director, then repatriated his service to his parent department, and from there, the petitioner was posted as Assistant Professor Political Science and transferred to Govt Degree College Naguman, Peshawar by way of the impugned office orders and notification, hence, the instant writ petition.
3. The learned counsel for the petitioner argued that the petitioner has to complete the normal tenure of his deputation period and that without any justification and for certain malafide, the petitioner has been repatriated to his parent department. He further contended that although the respondent department has the power/ jurisdiction to repatriate the petitioner, however, such power should be exercised in good faith and for the advancement of the services and in reasonable manner but, in the instant case, such principles have been violated. He placed reliance on 2014 SCMR 1189 "Province of Sindh vs. Ghulam Fareed and others" and 2015 SCMR 360 "Muhammad Amin Muhammad Bashir Limited vs. Government of Pakistan through Secretary, Ministry of Finance, Islamabad and others".
4. Having heard the preliminary arguments of learned counsel for the petitioner and going through the material available on file and law on the subject, it is an admitted fact that the petitioner is a civil servant and serving under the administrative control of the Secretary Higher Education Archive and Library Department. H while serving in the said department was transferred and posted as Deputy Director (Admn) on deputation in the foundation, which is a corporate body, which was created under the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Frontier Education Foundation Act, 1992. As per the preamble of the Act, the foundation was established to promote and finance the development of education in the private sector in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and matters ancillary, incidental, and supplemental thereto. We have observed that in numerous cases instead of allowing promotion to the employees of the autonomous bodies and without adhering to the recruitment rules of those autonomous bodies, the government sends civil servants on deputation against the promotion posts or the posts meant for initial recruitment. It is clarified that where recruitment rules do not permit the filling of a post through deputation, sending a civil servant to such post, is heart-burning for servants serving in the organization, on one hand, and on the other, it militates the statutory law of that organization.
5. So far as, the right of a deputationist to complete his normal tenure is concerned, the same has never been recognized by the courts, it is well settled by now that deputationist has no right to remain on a post as deputationist, he can be repatriated at any time without assigning any reason.
In terms of the Civil Servant Act either federal or provincial, a civil servant is liable to serve anywhere through the province or throughout Pakistan as the case may be, he cannot claim posting of his own choice at a particular post. In fact, we have seen that the expertise of such civil servants is spoiled when they are specialists in teaching and are posted against an administrative post, and experience has shown that such deputationists often opt for deputation to other departments when they once complete their normal tenure. The superior Courts have repeatedly deprecated this practice, some famous cases on this subject are 2013 SCMR 1752 [SC] in Contempt proceedings against Chief Secretary, Sindh and others", and 2015 SCMR 456 "Ali Azhar Khan Baloch and others vs. Province of Sindh and others"
6. The deputation is an administrative arrangement between the borrowing and lending departments for utilizing the services of an employee in the public interest and exigency of services against a particular post, and such deputationist cannot be allowed to remain on deputation for an indefinite period or stipulated period by his own whims and wishes. The law on this point is very much clear, reference can be made to 2014 SCMR 799 "S. Masood Abbas Rizvi vs. Federation of Pakistan through Secretary Establishment and others", 2010 SCMR 378 "Dr. Shafi-ur-Rahman Afridi vs. CDA Islamabad through Chairman and others", 2023 PLC (CS) 826 "Muhammad Ali Zahoor vs. Govt of Pakistan through Secretary Benazir Income Support Programme Islamabad and 3 others",
7. In view thereof, we understand that mere repatriation of the petitioner to his parent department before the completion of his tenure on deputation is not a vested right to agitate before this Court in the Constitutional Jurisdiction. Hence, this petition being meritless stands dismissed in limine.