1. SARDAR MUHAMMAD ASHRAF KHAN (CHAIRMAN).--This service appeal under section 4 of the Givi1 Servants Act, 1976 has been filed against the order of respondent No. 2, dated 1-11-1980, whereby he has been retired from service and the order of the respondent No. 1 whereby review petition of the appellant against the said order of respondent No. 2, has been rejected.
2. The brief facts leading to the filing of the present appeal are that Syed Muhammad Amin Shah was serving as Inspector of Police (Reserve) when the respondent No. 2 made an order of his retirement from service under section 12 of the Azad Jammu and Kashmir Civil Servant Act, 1976 on the ground of the appellant having completed 25 years of his service. It is this order of his retirement that has been challenged by the appellant in this appeal on the grounds that it is destructive of the terms and conditions of his service; that the impugned order has violated provisions of section 12 of the Civil Servant Act and that the appellant is only 50 years of age and thus is entitled to remain in service for a period of 10 years.
3. The appeal has been contested by the respondent by filing written statement in which it alleged that the appellant has been retired from service in accordance with law and, therefore, he cannot make any grievance of his retirement.
4. After considering the respective contentions of the parties, we are of the opinion that impugned order is perfectly lawful having been made in accordance with the law governing the terms and conditions of the service of the appellant. The appellant has been retired under section 12 of the Azad Jammu and Kashmir' Civil Servant Act, 1970 which reads as under:- "12. Retirement from service.-- A civil servant shall retire from service. --
(i) .............................................................---------------
(ii) in the case of a person holding a post lower than the post of Secretary to Government on such date, as the Government may, in the public interest, in consultation with an Advisory Committee as may be constituted in the prescribed manner for the purpose, direct; (i.e)------------------------------------------------------------.
5. (iv)------------------------------------------------------------.
6. From the perusal of the clause (ii) of the above section of the Civil Servants Act, it becomes quite clear that after completing 25 years of service qualifying for pension and other retirement benefits civil servant cannot claim to be retained in the Government service as a right granted to him under any law but his retention in the service entirely rest on the discretion of the competent authority who may retire him from service in the public interest or let him continue in service till he attains the age of 60 years and he cannot make any grievance if the competent authority decides to retire him from service n in the public interest after he has completed 25 years of service. This Tribunal can neither question the propriety of the decision of the competent authority of retiring him nor going into question as to whether or not it is in the public interest to retire such a civil servant. It lies with the domain of the authority of the appointing authority to determine the usefulness or otherwise of a civil servant of his retention in the service after he has completed 25 years of service and this Tribunal cannot sit in judgment on such determination.
7. The terms and conditions of the civil servant are governed by the Civil Servant Act, 1976, enacted in pursuance of section 49 of the Azad Jammu and Kashmir Constitution Act, 1974 which lays down than appointment of persons to and the terms and conditions of service of a person in the service of Azad Jammu and Kashmir may be regulated by the law. Section 12(ii) of the said Act thus contains one of the terms and conditions of the service of the civil servant under which the competent authority is fully empowered to retire him in the public interest after he has completed 25 years of the service qualifying for the pension and other retirement benefits. This being the legal position the appellant who had completed the statutory period of his service has no cause of grievance against the impugned order by which the competent authority in exercise of its powers vested in it under the relevant law has retired him with all pensionary benefits. This Tribunal has no power to express any opinion that the Government ought not to have retired the appellant in view of his service record because the power to form any such opinion falls with the exclusive domain of competent authority and thus the discretion exercised by it under section 12 of Civil Servants Act cannot be interfered with by this Tribunal in exercise of its appellant power. If the competent authority exercises his discretion in favour of retiring a civil servant it will be doing se quite in confirmity with one of the terms and conditions of his service contained in aforesaid provisions of the law.
8. For the reasons stated above, the appeal is dismissed with no order as to costs.
9. A.A. /47-S/Lb/S