1. ' SH. RIAZ AHMAD, J.---These six appeals by leave of the Court are directed against the judgments of the Federal Service Tribunal whereby the appeals preferred by the respondents were allowed and certain reliefs were granted to the respondents. Since common questions of law are involved in these appeals, they were heard together and are being disposed of through this judgment. The facts in each appeal are different and are briefly stated as under:- Civil Appeal No, 952.Of 1994 ' On 24-4-1993 an application was received by Wing Commander, 62 Wing Qasim Rangers, Tando Adam (Sindh) from one Mr. Behar Ahmad alleging therein that on 17-4-1993 respondent Faiz Ahmad had committed unnatural offence with the son of the applicant, namely, Imran Khan aged about 10 years. Thus, the respondent was served with a charge-sheet. He denied the allegations whereupon Court of Inquiry was constituted to inquire into the allegations. The Court of Inquiry came to the conclusion that the allegations levelled by the applicant were correct. Accordingly, offence report was prepared by Commandant Qasim Rangers and thus the respondent was served with another charge-sheet and was proceeded against summarily under rule 4 of the Pakistan Rangers (Efficiency, Discipline and Appeal) Rules, 1967. After affording an opportunity of being heard, the Commandant vide orders dated 23-6-1993 imposed the penalty of dismissal from service upon the respondent. Aggrieved by the said orders, the respondent took an appeal before the Director-General, Pakistan Rangers, which was dismissed vide orders dated 29-7-1993. The respondent then invoked the revisional jurisdiction of the Federal Government, but before his revision could be disposed of, the respondent. Invoked jurisdiction of the Federal Service Tribunal.
2. The learned Tribunal vide judgment impugned took a lenient view and considering that the respondent had put in 22 years' service and also had a family to support, converted the penalty of dismissal from service into compulsory retirement from service.
3. Civil Appeal No, 953 of 1994 ' The respondent Safdar Ali, a Copy while serving in 'B' Company, 70 Wing Sachal Rangers at Karachi, was found to have violated the discipline. In March, 1993, brother of Havildar Noor Nawab had written letters to Havildar Noor Nawab informing him that he had arranged and remited Its.6,000 to his parents. The respondent managed to open the above letter dishonestly under the impression that the money was remitted by Havildar Noor Nawab. With a view to insulting Havildar Noor Nawab in front of troops the respondent allegedly prepared photostat copies of the above letter and in the monthly Darbar raised objection as to the remittance of the said amount by Havildar Noor Nawab stating that how could a Havildar remit Rs,6,000 from his salary and the respondent also made certain allegations against the said Havildar with regard to misappropriation of funds by the latter. On account of seriousness of charges Court of Inquiry was constituted to probe into these allegations and as a result of the inquiry, allegations levelled by the respondent were found to be false and fabricated. The Court of Inquiry also recommended strict disciplinary action to be taken against the respondent for falsely charging his superior. It is pertinent to mention that during the proceedings held by the Court of Inquiry, the respondent confessed his guilt and prayed that he be excused. The Court of inquiry also found the respondent guilty of gross misconduct, and thus, on 8-6-1993 an offence report was prepared. On receipt of this report the Commandant Sachal Rangers came to the conclusion that the respondent could be adequately dealt with summarily. On 9-6-1993 the respondent was served with a charge-sheet.
4. The respondent was afforded an opportunity of being heard and he again confessed his guilt. Vide orders dated 16-6-1993 the penalty of dismissal from service was imposed upon the respondent.
5. The respondent took an appeal against the said orders before the Director-General, Pakistan Rangers, but the same was dismissed vide orders dated 29-7-1993. The respondent then filed a review petition instead of filing a revision petition and then without waiting the decision invoked the jurisdiction of the Federal Service Tribunal. The Tribunal vide judgment impugned converted the penalty of dismissal into compulsory retirement from service.
6. Civil Appeal No, 954 of 1994 ' Muhammad Imran respondent, ex-Lance Naik, was serving in 71 Sachal Wing Rangers, Karachi and was caught red-handed while using drugs. He was immediately referred to Pakistan National Shifa Hospital for treatment. At the time of his admission in the hospital, Dr. Zulfiqar Ali recovered 6 grams of Charas from the respondent. Having been found to be an addict, he was sent back to the Rangers and then the authorities decided to take disciplinary action against the respondent. On review of the situation the respondent was found unable to discharge his duties as a member of the Force, therefore, on 6-11-1993 penalty of dismissal from service was imposed upon the respondent. Aggrieved by the dismissal from service the respondent took an appeal, which was rejected by the Director-General, Rangers vide orders dated 20-12-1993. In this case as well, without filing revision or review, the respondent invoked jurisdiction of the Tribunal and vide orders impugned the Tribunal converted penalty of dismissal into compulsory retirement from service.
7. Civil Appeal No, 1249 of 1997 ' The respondent Arif Mehmood Bhalli was serving as Deputy Superintendent of Rangers and it was found that he had been instigating one Civilian Mushtaq Ahmad to lodge complaints through different agencies against the Rangers. The Court of Inquiry was constituted to probe into the allegations and the said Court found the respondent guilty and recommended disciplinary action against him. As a result thereof the respondent was demoted to the rank of Inspector as charge No, 3 was found to be proved against the respondent. Aggrieved by his demotion the respondent took an appeal and without waiting for the decision invoked the jurisdiction of the Tribunal and vide orders impugned dated 30-6-1997 the said appeal was accepted. After perusal of the statement of Mushtaq Ahmad, the Tribunal came to the conclusion that his statement about illegal gratification and gifts to the respondent had not been believed. Furthermore, said Mushtaq was found to have given evasive and contradictory answers. The Tribunal also came to the conclusion that nowhere Mushtaq stated that the respondent had instigated him to lodge complaints against the Rangers with other agencies. The Tribunal also found that Mushtaq was unreliable and his evidence did not inspire confidence, and therefore, it was unsafe to rely upon his doubtful testimony. Accordingly, the Tribunal held that the Court of Inquiry was not justified in giving finding to the effect that charge No, 3 against the respondent had been proved, and thus, in the light of these findings the Tribunal reversed the orders of demotion.
8. Civil Appeal No, 1250 of 1997 ' The respondent Shabbir Ahmad was serving in the capacity of a Sepoy in the Pakistan Rangers and was promoted as Lance Naik/Driver. On 25-4-1996 the respondent alongwith another Sepoy Abid Hussain was apprehended by the police while sitting with prostitutes in the red light area. It, was thus, decided that disciplinary action should be taken against the respondents. On 25-8-1996 he was served with a charge-sheet and on receipt of reply thereof vide orders dated 16-11-1996 the Commandant deprived him of the rank of Lance Naik for six months for having been found guilty of violating discipline of the Force. The Director-General Rangers reviewed the case of the respondent and enhanced the punishment to dismissal from service vide orders dated 11-12-1996. The appeal taken by the respondent was also dismissed vide order dated 25-2-1997 and the revision petition filed by the respondent also met the same fate. The respondent then invoked jurisdiction of the Tribunal and the appeal was allowed on the ground that rules of natural justice were violated inasmuch as the respondent was not heard nor was served with any notice to show cause as to why penalty should not be enhanced.
9. Civil Appeal No, 1251 of 1997 ' The respondent was working as Deputy Superintendent Rangers, 50 Wing Bhittai Rangers at Karachi. One Lt.-Col. Irfan Haider on taking over the command of the said Wing illegally constituted an intelligence team and the members of the said team were allegedly selected by Lt.-Col. Irfan Haider and the respondent Syed Dilshad Hussain Shah. The team consisted of the respondent, Havildar Muhammad Yasin, Havildar Khan Muhammad, Lance Naik Muhammad Shafi and Lance Naik Muhammad Ilyas. It was reported to the higher authorities that this team was acting illegally and had engaged itself to extort money by harassing civilians and was also engaged in making money from other sources. It was also reported that the architects of this team were Lt.-Col. Irfan Haider and the respondent. The team had full authority to use the vehicles and to draw the weapons. It was also reported that heavy amounts were pocketed by Lt.-Col. Irfan Haider and the respondent while Rs,10,000 were distributed among other members of the team. After probe into this affair the Department proceeded to initiate disciplinary action against the respondent under the Pakistan Rangers (Efficiency, Discipline and Appeal) Rules, 1967. As many as 9 charges were framed. The extorted money was returned to the Civilians by Maj. Arshad Kamal Mustafa, Havildar Muhammad Yasin and the respondent. On the basis of the finding arrived at by the Court of Inquiry 10 charges were framed against the respondent. On receipt of reply to the charges, the same was not found satisfactory and the respondent was compulsorily retired from service. Aggrieved by the said orders, the respondent filed a departmental appeal, which was not responded to within a period of 90 days, therefore, the respondent invoked the jurisdiction of the Federal Service Tribunal and vide order impugned dated 28-12-1996. The punishment of compulsory retirement was substituted by withholding of two increments for a period of two years and the respondent was reinstated in service.
10. Against all the aforesaid judgments of the Federal Service Tribunal, the Director-General, Pakistan Rangers filed petitions for leave to appeal, which was granted to consider as to whether a member of the Pakistan Rangers was a civil servant and the Federal Service Tribunal had the jurisdiction to entertain appeals from the orders passed by the Pakistan Rangers Authorities.
11. We have examined this question in depth in our judgment of even date in Civil Appeal No, 1197 of 1997 and after analysis of the relevant case-law on the subject we have held as under:-- "Since with regard to the status of the members of the force the Pakistan Rangers Ordinance is silent, therefore, it can be safely said that the employees of the Pakistan Rangers will be deemed to be civil servants as they are performing duties in connection with affairs of the Federation and hence under the Service Tribunals Act, 1973 an appeal by a member of the Pakistan Rangers regarding a matter relating to terms and conditions of his service is competent before the Federal Service Tribunal. The cases of the employees of the Pakistan Rangers would be governed by the Pakistan Rangers (Efficiency, Discipline and Appeal) Rules, 1967 in view of the overriding provision contained in amended section 1 of the Pakistan Rangers Ordinance. However, it may be noted that the aforesaid amendment has not excluded the applicability of Civil Servants Act as far as definition of a civil servant is concerned, but it only suggests that in case of conflict between the provisions of the Pakistan Rangers Ordinance as also the Rules framed thereunder and the provisions of the Civil Servants Act as well as the Rules made thereunder, the former shall prevail."
12. ' Since in all the present six appeals, action was taken under the Pakistan Rangers (Efficiency, Discipline and Appeal) Rules, 1967 and keeping in view our conclusion that the members of the Pakistan Rangers would be deemed to be civil servants, the judgments of the Federal Service Tribunal do not suffer from jurisdictional defect.
13. ' Adverting to the merits of the appeals, we are of the view that in all these appeals the orders passed by the Tribunal are not open to exception because each case has been decided on merits keeping in view its peculiar facts and circumstances, therefore, we decline to interfere with the orders passed by the Tribunal. The appeals are dismissed leaving the parties to bear their own costs.