' ABDUL HAFEEZ MEMON, J.---This petition is directed against the judgment, dated 17-7-1995, passed by the learned Federal Service Tribunal, Islamabad, whereby it accepted the service appeal filed by the respondent.
2. The respondent Noor Din was working as Postmaster, Sub-Post Office, Police Station Mills, Mardan. He was charge-sheeted on 5-8-1989 for renewing M.V.T. Registration Books without charging admissible penalty thereon, and thereby causing loss of Rs,28,840 in revenue to the Government. The respondent contested the charge and his defence was that all the Registration Books were renewed within a month of the grace period as provided by Rule 14 of the Provincial Tax Rules read with F.R.9(18), and as such no penalty was to be charged from the book owners even if it was renewed on the last day of the month, as the grace period allowed under the rules was one calender month, which included the last day of the month. The reply of the respondent did not find favour with the Senior Postmaster, Mardan, who imposed the penalty in the form of recovery of Rs,28,840 from the respondent.
3. The respondent filed appeal to the departmental authority, which was rejected. He thereafter filed appeal before the learned Service Tribunal, who allowed the appeal and set aside the penalty imposed on the respondent. It was observed by the Tribunal that the grace period of one calendar month included the last day of the month, and as the M.V.T. Registration Books were admittedly renewed on the last day of the month, the penalty amount could not be recovered from the book holders. The Tribunal further observed that during the relevant period the senior officers of the post office made 22 inspections of this post office and examined the entire record/books and ledgers of the post office, but found no irregularity or omission/commission in collection of the tax by the respondent.
' Aggrieved by the judgment of the Tribunal, the department has filed this petition.
3. Learned counsel for the petitioners has contended that one calendar month of grace period provided by the rules did not include the last date of the month, and, therefore, the Service Tribunal was not right in accepting the appeal of the respondent.
4. We see no force in the contention. This very contention was raised and adequately considered by the learned Tribunal and repelled for valid reasons reflected in the judgment, and the same do not suffer from any infirmity to call for interference. Also, no question of law of public importance is involved. This petition is accordingly dismissed, and leave is refused.
Leave refused.
1998 PLC (C.S.) 714 [Supreme Court of Pakistan] Present: Ajmal Mian, C.J., Sh. Riaz Ahmad and Ch. Muhammad Arif, JJ DIRECTOR-GENERAL, PAKISTAN RANGERS, LAHORE and others versus R-301059 ex-NURSING HAVILDAR FAIZ AHMAD and 5 others Civil Appeals Nos. 952, 953, 954 of 1994; 1249, 1250 and 1251 of 1997, decided on 13th March, 1998.
(On appeal against the judgments dated 10-11-1993, 26-10-1993, 2-2-1994, 30-6-1997, 25-7-1997 and 28-12-1996 of the Federal Service Tribunal passed in Appeals Nos. 298(L)/93, 299(L)/93, 5(L)/94, 19(L)/97, 180(L)/97 and 238(L)/96 respectively).
(a) Pakistan Rangers (Efficiency, Discipline and Appeal) Rules, 1967-- ----R. 4---Constitution of Pakistan (1973), Art. 212(3)---Leave to appeal was granted to consider as to whether a member of the Pakistan Rangers was a civil servant and Federal Service Tribunal had the jurisdiction to entertain appeals from the orders passed by the Pakistan Rangers Authorities. [p.
719] A
(b) West Pakistan Rangers Ordinance (XIV of 1959)--- ----S. 1---Pakistan Rangers (Efficiency, Discipline and Appeal) Rules, 1967, R. 4---Civil Servants Act (LXXI of 1973), S. 2---Service Tribunals Act (LXX of 1973), S. 4---Members of Pakistan Rangers would be deemed to be civil servants, the judgments of the Federal Service Tribunal did not suffer from jurisdictional defect---Appeal dismissed. [p. 719] B Civil Appeal No, 1197 of 1997 fol. Moulvi Anwarul Hach Deputy Attorney-General and Raja Abdul Ghafoor, Advocate-on-Record for Appellants (in C.As. Nos. 952 to 954 of 1994).
Ch. Akhtar Ali, Advocate-on-Record for Respondents (in C.A. No,952 of 1994).
Hamid Aslam Qureshi, Advocate-on-Record for Respondents (in C.A. No,953 of 1994).
S. Abid Nawaz, Advocate-on-Record (absent) for Respondents.
S.M. Tayyab, Advocate Supreme Court for Respondent (in C.A. No, 1250 of 1997).
Syed Nadeem Saqlain, Advocate Supreme Court and Tanvir Ahmad, Advocate-on-Record (absent) for Respondents (in C.A. No, 1251 of 1997).
Date of hearing: 13th March, 1998.
' 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 leveled 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 provisional jurisdiction of the Federal Government, but before his revision could be disposed of, the respondent invoked jurisdiction of the Federal Service Tribunal.
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.
Civil Appeal No, 953 of 1994 ' The respondent Safdar Ali, a Sepoy 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 remitted Rs,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 Durbar 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 leveled 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
' 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, 1974 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."
' 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 Ranger's would be deemed to be civil servants, the judgments of the Federal Service Tribunal do not suffer from jurisdictional defect.
' 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.
Appeals dismissed.
1998 PLC (C.S.) 720 [Supreme Court of Pakistan] Present: Ajmal Mian, C.J., Sh. Riaz Ahmad and Ch. Muhammad Arif, JJ FEDERATION OF PAKISTAN through Secretary, Ministry of Interior (Interior Division), Islamabad and 2 others versus RO-177 ex-DSR MUHAMMMAD NAZIR Civil Appeal No, 1197 of 1997, decided on 13th March, 1998.
(On appeal against the judgment dated 2-6-1996 of the Federal Service Tribunal, Camp Lahore in Appeal No, 59(L) of 1996).
(a) Government Servants (Efficiency and Discipline) Rules, 1973--- - ---R. 1(2)---Constitution of Pakistan (1973), Art. 212(3)---Pakistan Rangers (Efficiency, Discipline and Appeal) Rules, 1967, R. 4---Service Tribunals Act (LXX of 1973), S. 4---Civil Servants Act (LXXI of 1973), S. 2(b)--- Leave to appeal was granted to consider as to whether Government Servants (Efficiency and Discipline) Rules, 1973 were applicable to the employees of the Pakistan Rangers. [p.
723] A .
(b) West Pakistan Rangers Ordinance (XIV of 1959)--- - ---Ss. 1 & 21(1) & (2)---Pakistan Rangers (Efficiency, Discipline and Appeal) Rules, 1967, R. 4---Civil Servants Act (LXXI of 1973), S. 2---Service Tribunals Act (LXX of 1973), S. 4---Government Servants (Efficiency and Discipline) Rules, 1973, R. 4 ---Provisions of Pakistan Rangers (Efficiency, Discipline and Appeal) Rules, 1967 are all embracing and, thus, would prevail over Government Servants (Efficiency and Discipline) Rules, 1973---Employees of Pakistan Rangers will be deemed to be civil servants as they are performing duties in connection with affairs of the Federation---Appeal by a member of Pakistan Rangers regarding a matter relating to terms and conditions of his service is competent before Service Tribunal under S. 4, Service Tribunals Act, 1973-Cases of the employees of the Pakistan Rangers, however, would be governed by the Pakistan Rangers (Efficiency, Discipline and Appeal) Rules, 1967 and not by Government Servants (Efficiency and Discipline) Rules, 1973---Principles.
No doubt by virtue of amendment in section 1 of the Pakistan Rangers Ordinance it has been laid down that the provisions of the Ordinance and the Rules made thereunder shall have effect notwithstanding anything contained in the Civil Servants Act, 1973 and the rules made thereunder.
In the light of this amendment, it is obvious that in view of any conflict between the Civil Servants Act, 1973 and the Pakistan Rangers Ordinance, 1959, the provisions of the latter would prevail over the provisions of the former. If the Rules have been framed touching any subject under the Pakistan Rangers Ordinance, then the same would be applicable to the exclusion of other rules. In exercise of the powers conferred by subsection (2) of section 21 of the Pakistan Rangers Ordinance, 1959, the Government of West Pakistan was pleased to make rules known as Pakistan Rangers (Efficiency, Discipline and Appeal) Rules, 1967 vide Notification No, (4)/59/Vol., dated 13-10-1967. These rules were further amended on 9-4-1985 and 4-7-1985 vide two different Notifications. [p. 724] B Perusal of these rules clearly shows that they are all embracing and therefore, under the amendment of section 1 of the Pakistan Rangers Ordinance, these rules would prevail over the Government Servants (Efficiency and Discipline) Rules, 1973. The Pakistan Rangers Ordinance was promulgated to constitute a force called the Pakistan Rangers for the protection of and maintenance of order in the border areas. Since with regards 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 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, the aforesaid amendment has not excluded the applicability of the 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.
This aspect of the case escaped the notice of the Federal Service Tribunal while deciding the appeal preferred by the respondent in the present PLC case. Since the appeal was decided on the touchstone of the provisions of the Civil Servants Act and the rules made thereunder and not on merits in accordance with the provisions of the Pakistan Rangers Ordinance and the Rules framed thereunder, namely, Pakistan Rangers (Efficiency, Discipline and Appeal) Rules, 1967, the order impugned was erroneous in law. Supreme Court remanded the appeal to the Federal Service Tribunal to decide the controversy in the light of the provisions of the Pakistan Rangers Ordinance and the Pakistan Rangers (Efficiency, Discipline and Appeal) Rules, 1967. [p. 725] C Force Commander, Airport Security Force, Karachi and others v. Haji Muhammad Rashid and another 1996 SCM R 1614 distinguished. Moulvi Anwarul Haq, Deputy Attorney-General and Rao Muhammad Yusuf Khan, Advocate-on-Record for Appellants.
C.M. Latif, Advocate-on-Record (absent) for Respondent. Date of hearing: 13th March, 1998.
' SH. RIAZ AHMAD, J.---This appeal by leave of the Court is directed against the judgment dated 2- 6-1996 delivered by the Federal Service Tribunal whereby the appeal preferred by the respondent calling in question his dismissal from service vide order dated 28-11-1995 was partly allowed, the dismissal order was set aside and the respondent was reinstated in service. However, the Tribunal allowed the department to proceed against the respondent afresh on the same charges in accordance with the provisions of the Government Servants (Efficiency and Discipline) Rules, 1973 (hereinafter called the Rules of 1973).
2. The facts in brief are that the respondent was serving in the Pakistan Rangers as Deputy Superintendent Rangers at Lahore. On bifurcation of Pakistan Rangers, he was transferred to Sindh.
While serving at Lahore, he remained posted in the Ordnance Branch where he was entrusted with the duty of procurement of stores etc. And payments therefor. While serving in Sindh, he was charge-sheeted by the Director-General, Pakistan Rangers, Sindh, respondent No, 2 on the following grounds:-- ' As a member of time force at Lahore during the period between 16-7-1991 to 15-11-1993 he improperly signed documents resulting in incorrect payment of Rs,74,00,000 (Rupees seventy-four lac only).
(ii) during the aforesaid period, he withheld the information regarding receipt of a cheque for Rs,22,22,000 (Rupees twenty two lac and twenty-two thousand only), which amount was placed at the disposal of. The Rangers for purchase of boats and launches and the said amount could not be spent on the purchase of said items.
3. The respondent denied the charges and submitted a reply. As against charge No, 1, the respondent stated that he had checked and attested the list of signal equipment in accordance with the contract deed executed between the Director-General, Headquarters (Punjab), Lahore and M/s. Micro Ltd., Lahore and the same was sent to the Board of Officers responsible for the inspection of the store comprising of a Lt.-Colonel, a Major and a Captain. According to the respondent, the said Board had inspected the store and found the same in accordance with the list and on the receipt of the inspection note duly signed by the Board of Officers, a bill was prepared, which was signed by the then ADDS, HQ PR (Pb.), Lahore. The respondent further submitted that stock entry was also made by the Storeman and then it was submitted to the Accountant-General Office for payment. On receipt of cheque from the Accountant-General Office, the same was deposited in the Bank by the said firm in their own account opened by them on the directive of the Pakistan Rangers, Punjab and in lieu of this payment the firm deposited the call deposit with the ADDS, HQ (Pb.), with different denominations. According to the respondent, the payment was made by the Brig. Shamsuddin to the said film. The respondent thus submitted that the charge was baseless.
Charge No, 2 was also denied and it was stated that after receipt of the cheque the same was deposited with the National Bank of Pakistan, Airport Branch in the account opened by the Director- General, Headquarters, Pakistan Rangers, Lahore and it was in the knowledge of all the officers that the amount had been received and deposited in the Bank. The respondent submitted that he was not responsible for the purchase of the items and the disbursement or expenditure of the amount against the purchases.
4. The competent Authority found the reply unsatisfactory and thus vide order dated 28-11-1995 the respondent was dismissed from service. The respondent invoked jurisdiction of the Tribunal, which allowed the appeal vide judgment impugned. Leave was granted to consider whether the Rules A of 1973 were applicable to the employees of the Pakistan Rangers.
5. In support of this appeal, the learned Deputy Attorney-General has placed reliance on the amendment of section 1 of the West Pakistan Rangers Ordinance (No, XIV of 1959) by virtue of Pakistan Ranggers (Amendment) Ordinance (XIII of 1985). Through the said amendment in section 1, after subsection (2), following new subsection was added:-- "The provisions of this Ordinance and the Rules made thereunder shall have effect notwithstanding anything contained in the Civil Servants Act, 1973 (LXXI of 1973) and the rules made thereunder."
' On the basis of this amendment, it was vehemently argued that since the Civil Servants Act, 1973, was not applicable, therefore, the respondent was not a civil servant, hence the Rules of 1973 were not applicable and therefore, the judgment impugned delivered by the Tribunal was erroneous.
6. To further substantiate his argument, reliance was placed by the learned Deputy Attorney- General on the judgment reported as Force Commander, Airport Security Force, Karachi and others v. Haji Muhammad Rashid and another (1996 SCM R 1614). We have carefully gone through this judgment, but it has no applicability to the facts and circumstances of the present case. In the said judgment, this Court had interpreted the provisions of Airports Security Act (LXXVII of 1975). The said Act was amended and sections 7-A to 7-G were inserted to the Act by virtue of the Airports Security Force (Amendment) Ordinance (XXXV of 1984). Section 7-A of the said Act was further amended by Ordinance No, XLIV of 1993. In addition thereto, the Airports Security Force (Discipline) Rules, 1973 and the Airports Security Force (Service) Rules, 1978 were also considered and the Airports Security Force Rules 1974 as well as the provisions of the Pakistan Army Act and the rules framed thereunder and particularly Rules 9, 9-A and 9-B were also looked into. After elaborate discussion of the various provisions referred to above, this Court came to the conclusion that the status of the persons working in the Airports Security Force was that of a civil servant and the said status had not been changed despite the fact that Pakistan Army Act, 1952 and the Pakistan Army Act Rules, 1954 had been competently made applicable to such persons. This Court upheld the status of the persons working in the Airports Security Force as civil servants on account of the fact that provisions of Rules, 9, 9-A and 9-B of the Pakistan Army Act Rules, 1954 were not applicable to such persons by virtue of S.R.O. No, 213(KE)93, dated 9-12-1993. This Court further came to the conclusion that since provisions of Rules 9-A and 9-B of the Pakistan Army Act Rules, 1954 had not been made applicable to the employees of the Airports Security Force, therefore, the Rules of 1973 would continue to apply to the employees of the said Force till such time that above S.R.O. Was rescinded or some special rules covering the subject were framed under Act No, LXXVII of 1975 or the Pakistan Army Act, 1952.
7. It is obvious that the above judgment relied upon by the learned Deputy Attorney-General has no relevance to the facts of this case. No doubt by virtue of amendment in section 1 of the Pakistan Rangers Ordinance it has been laid down that the provisions of the Ordinance and the Rules made thereunder shall have effect notwithstanding anything contained in the Civil Servants Act, 1973 and the rules made thereunder. In the light of this amendment, it is obvious that in view of any conflict between the Civil Servants Act, 1973 and the Pakistan Rangers Ordinance, 1959, the provisions of the latter would prevail over the provisions of the former. It is further pertinent to mention that if the Rules have been framed touching any subject under the Pakistan Rangers Ordinance, then the same would be applicable to the exclusion of other rules. We have noticed that in exercise of the powers conferred by subsection (2) of section 21 of the Pakistan Rangers Ordinance, 1959, the Governor of West Pakistan was pleased to make rules known as Pakistan Rangers (Efficiency, Discipline and Appeal) Rules, 1967 vide Notification No, (4)/59/Vol., dated 13-10-1967. These rules were further amended on 9-4-1985 and 4-7-1985 vide two different Notifications. Sub-rule (2) of Rule 1 reads as under:-- "They shall apply to all members of the Pakistan Rangers except the members of Armed Forces on deputation to Pakistan Rangers and holders of such posts therein as may be specified in this behalf by Government from time to time by notification in the official Gazette."
' Rule 2 defines 'appellate authority', 'competent Authority', 'Commandant', 'defaulter', 'member of the Force' and 'Officer Commanding' etc. Rule 3 lays down the classification of penalties into major and minor. Under rule 3(c), penalty can also be imposed summarily. Similarly, under sub-rule (2) of rule 3, discharge of certain categories of employees has also been provided for. Under rule 4, procedure for summary award of punishment has been provided. Under rule 14, manner of suspension has been laid down. Under rule 15, an appeal lies against the penalty. Under rule 18, revision petition lies but such revision would be incompetent where the appellate authority is the Federal Government. Under the said rule, remedy of review has also been provided. In addition to these remedies, under rule 20, mercy petition is also maintainable. The other rules pertain to the procedure. Perusal of these rules clearly shows that they are all embracing and, therefore, under the amendment of section 1 of the Pakistan Rangers Ordinance, these rules would prevail over the Rules of 1973. The Pakistan Rangers Ordinance was promulgated to constitute a force called the Pakistan Rangers for the protection of and maintenance of order in the border areas. 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, 1974, 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 the 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.
8. Unfortunately, this aspect of the case escaped the notice of the Federal Service Tribunal while deciding the appeal preferred by the respondent in the present case. Since the appeal was decided on the touchstone of the provisions of the Civil Servants Act and the rules made thereunder and not on merits in accordance with the provisions of the Pakistan Rangers Ordinance and the Rules framed thereunder, namely, Pakistan Rangers (Efficiency, Discipline and Appeal)
Rules, 1967, the order impugned is erroneous in law. We would, therefore, remand the appeal to the Federal Service Tribunal to decide the controversy in the light of the provisions of the Pakistan Rangers Ordinance and the Pakistan Rangers (Efficiency, Discipline and Appeal) Rules, 1967. The appeal is disposed of in the above terms leaving the parties to bear their own costs.