' ABDUL, HAFEEZ CHEEMA (CHAIRMAN).--1 Muhammad Rafique Gill, Director Estate Management, Faisalabad Development Authority, Faisalabad was proceeded against under Efficiency and Discipline Rules, 1975 on the following charge(s):-- "You did not prepare any merit lists as Chairman District Recruitment Committee and the recommendations were issued in piece-meal. You, therefore, did not issue comprehensive merit lists and forwarded the recommendations of candidates in a vary slipshod and doubtful manner."
' The Authorised Officer appointed Mr. Muhammad Ayub Malik, Chairman Minimum Wages Board, Lahore as Inquiry Officer. The appellant was required to submit his written defence to the above charges within the given period. He refuted these charges and claimed that he had been making recruitments strictly in accordance with law and these recruitments were duly intimated to the Divisional Commissioner and to the concerned authorities in the Civil Secretariat, Government of the Punjab.
2. The Inquiry Officer held him guilty, and the. Authorised Officer imposed a minor penalty of stoppage of three increments upon the appellant vide order, dated 7-5-1999 (Annexure DD).
Subsequently, at the instance of the SGA&I Department, he allegedly acted mechanically and amended the first order, on 1-6-1999 without issuing notice to the appellant and affording him a chance of hearing (Annexure EE). In the latest order, the earlier penalty was withdrawn and fresh penalty of withholding of promotion of the appellant for a period of two years or till his retirement was imposed upon him.
' Facts of the case briefly are that while posted as Deputy Commissioner, Mandi Bahauddin, the appellant, like other Deputy Commissioners has been heading the District Recruitment Committee and the Committee has been making recruitment to various posts. An annoymous complaint was received by the Government alleging irregularities in making appointments by the District Education Officer. On this application, the Chief Minister was pleased to order for initiating departmental proceedings against the District Education Officer, Mandi Bahauddin. Somehow or the other, proceedings under E & D Rules were also started against the appellant. After recording the evidence of the witnesses, the Inquiry Officer came to the conclusion that the charges have been proved and penalty of stoppage of three increments was imposed upon the appellant in the first instance which was latter arbitrarily changed into withholding of promotion of the appellant for two years or till his retirement whichever is earlier vide order, dated 1-6-1999 (Annexure EE).
' The appellant has impeached the validity of these penalties on the following, amongst other, grounds:-- ' That the evidence recorded by the Inquiry Officer clearly establishes that the recruitments were made strictly in accordance with law and the recommendations were duly made for these appointments in accordance with the rules. Copies of these letters can be found at Annexures GG to 00; that as for the availability of the record, it was either the duty of the District Education Administration or it might be with Record Keeper of his office; that the Inquiry Officer was subordinate of the Authorised Officer and was visibly poised against him and the enmity between the appellant and the authorised officer dated back to the period when the appellant was serving under him as Deputy Secretary when he was Secretary Cooperatives; that due to personal grudge, the authorised officer had tried to mar his future career by giving him 'average' report whereas throughout his career, he has been earning good or very good reports; that the very initiation of the inquiry on an annonymous letter was violative of the instructions of the Government itself issued by means of letter, dated 24-3-1960 (Annexure 'Y'); that as for the recruitments in piece-meal, it was pointed out, that the District Education Officer Mandi Bahauddin, on certain occasions, had been pointing out some more vacancies in view of non joining of the successful candidates, hence the office was obliged to make piece-meal appointments/recruitments on some occasions and this did not amount to any irregularity and this fact had already been intimated to the Punjab Public Service Commission by means of various letters; that out of the witnesses, none has supported the prosecution case rather they have refuted the contentions of the respondents; that the phraseology of the Inquiry Report wherein the Inquiry Officer branded the statement of Raja Safdar Hussain (ADC(G) Mandi Bahauddin), Secretary Recruitment Committee as bogus, varying, false, self-contradictory, self- negating, ridiculous, incorect and unbelieveable would clearly manifest the preconceived frame of mind of the Inquiry Officer who appeared to be hot in anguish due to the fact that none of the witnesses had supported the prosecution case; that it has now been established that the merit lists indeed were prepared and communicated to be relevant offices/parties but as regards its availability, since the appellant stood transferred, he was not supposed to ensure their availability for all times; that the appeal has been penalized on account of the statement of Mr. Akbar Ali Chattha, a co-accused, without declaring him as an approver which is repugnant to all cannons of fairplay and justice; that as mentioned in Annexures H, I, J, K, L and M, the vacancies were distributed amongst the M.N.As., M.P.As. And the office-bearers of the P.D.F. As mentioned in Annexure "F". The Chief Minister's quota was given to Mr. Nazar Muhammad Gondal, M.N.A. The details worked out by the Inquiry Officer are, therefore, false and misleading.
' In the written objections, the respondents conceded the claim of the appellant that he possessed good service record and there has been no blemish against him in the past. As regards the imposition of the penalty, it was claimed that the inquiry was held in a proper way and the penalty was imposed after undertaking due process of law. It is noteworthy that the claim of the appellant made in ground HH (Page 20 of the Appeal) that the vacancies were distributed amongst the M.N.As. And M.P.As., was plainly conceded by the respondents and the following were the comments on this points (qua the claims of the appellant):-- "No comments. It is the matter of record."
' Arguments have been heard and record has been gone through with the help of the learned counsel for the appellant and the learned District Attorney.
' The learned counsel for the appellant, at the very outset, argued that a reading of record would make it manifestly clear that the inquiry proceedings were initiated out of sheer malice inasmuch as the annonymous complaint was made against the District Education Officer, Mandi Bahauddin and the Chief Minister had ordered inquiry against the said Officer vide order, dated 1-8-1996 (Annexure.X page 125). It was, however, maliciously 'maneuvered by the hostile quarters to rope in the appellant to settle their own accounts. The appellant had prepared the merit lists and communicated the same to the relevant offices including the Divisional Commissioner and the senior officers in the Secretariat.
' The learned District Attorney, on the other hand, argued that notwithstanding the interference of the M.N.As., M.P.As. And other politicians, it was the duty of the appellant to have acted upon the merit policy. He should have ensured justice to all and should have resisted unnecessary interference by the political figures.
9. In order to establish that the recruitments were made in accordance with the policy of the Government and intimations had been sent to the relevant departments/quarters, learned counsel for the appellant referred to the following documents/facts which, inter alia, envisage that despite, the quota assigned to elected representatives and the political personalities merit was also observed:-- "(1) SGA&ID's letter, dated 14-3-1995 (pages 112 to 113 of the appeal Annexure-O).
' SGA&ID's, letter, dated 20-3-1995 (Page 114 of appeal Annexure P).
' Letter No,4174, dated 28-6-1995 from Deputy Commissioner Mandi Bahauddin to the Additional Commissioner (Coord.) Gujranawala with reference to letters/telephonic talk intimating the quotas of various Grades assigned to various elected representatives and other offices-hearers of PDF (pages 100 to 102 of Appeal Annexure H).
' Deputy Commissioner, Mandi Bahauddin's Letter No,197, dated 19-4-1.995 written to the Commissioner, Gujranwala in response to the telephonic talk and intimating to him the quota of various posts assigned to the PDF MPAs (Page 103 of appeal Annexure 1).
' Deputy Commissioner, Mandi Bahauddin's Letter No,67, dated 26-7-1995 written to the Commissioner, Gujranawala again intimating to him the quota assigned to the elected representatives and other office-bearers of the PDF including the Minorities People (Page 104 of the Appeal Annexure J).
' Commissioner, Gujranwala's Letter No,2499, dated 21-7-1996 written to Chief Minister's Secretariat in response to telephonic message from the latter and intimating them the quotas assigned to all the elected representatives and the office-hearers of the PDF in all the six Districts of Gujranwala Division, ' Deputy Commissioner, Mandi Bahauddin's letter, dated 13-9-1995 written to the Commissioner, Gujranwala reporting about the policy of the Government regarding the quota of Minorities (Page 108 of the Appeal Annexure L).
' Deputy Commissioner, Mandi Bhauddin's letter, dated 19-10-1995 written to the Secretary (Regulation) Government of the Punjab, SGA&ID in response to telephonic talk of latter's Deputy Secretary clearly stating the position regarding the recruitments made so far on the basis of quotas of M.P.As. And vacancies filed on their recommendations (pages 109 and 110 of Appleal Annexure M).
' Vide Deputy Commissioner, Mandl Bahauddin's letter, dated 20-11-1995, written in response to telephonic conversation of Mr. Zafar Iqbal, Deputy Secretary to the Chief Minister, it was intimated that 10% quota of the Chief Minister allocated to Ch. Nazar Muhammad Gondal M.N.A. (page 111 of the Appeal Annexure-N).
' Vide Deputy Commissioner, Mandi Bahauddin's letter, dated 15-5-1995 and 30-5-1995, names on the recommendations of M.P.As. Were conveyed to the Commissioner, Gujranawal (pages 115 and 118 of the Appeal Annexure O and S).
10. The allocation of quota to the M.N.As., M.P.As. And the Chief Minister for such appointments- in itself in sufficient to show that Government itself had created all possible ways of interference by the politicians.
10. Despite this aspect of the matters, the record shows and shows very clearly that the appellant had been making recruitments/recommendations periodically and the appointments had been made in pursuance of the Government policy. This fact has also been conceded by the Divisional Commissioner, Gujranwala in his letter, dated 21-7-1996, referred to above (Arnnexure K .Page 105).
All the witnesses examined by the Inquiry Officer have made it clear that the meetings had been held, candidates had been interviewed and the recommendation prepared and made as and when required. There was, therefore, nothing on record justifying the finding that the charge had been proved. Even otherwise, the Authorised Officer and no authority in law to ignore his own earlier order and to pass a fresh order imposing another penalty without issuing a notice to the appellant.
Reference in this behalf to 1986 SCM R 1137.
11. A perusal of record and an appraisal of arguments addressed by both the parties has made it clear that although the Government has formulated the policy of making appointments through Recruitmen Committees to ensure the appointments on merits, nevertheless, there was much interference by to above wherein the authorities were asked to accommodate the M.N.As., M.P.As.
And other dignitaties which had in fact made a mockery of entire policy and rendered all such appointments without legal effect. Reference in this behalf may be made to the law laid down by the Hon'ble Supreme Court in _1993 SCM R 1287. Declaring all such appointments as of no legal effect, it was held:- "The allocation of quota of posts to the local M.P.As. Or M.N.As. For recruitment to the posts, we find it offertsive to the Constitution and the law on the subject. The Ministers, the Members of National and Provincial Assemblies, all are under an oath to discharge their duties in accordance with the Constitution and the law. The service laws designate, in the case of all appointments, a departmental authority competent to make such appointments. His judgment and discretion is to be exercised honestly and objectively in the public interest and cannot be influenced or subordinated to the judgment of anyone else including his superior. In the circumstances, allocation of such quotas to the Ministers/MNAs/MPAs and appointments made thereunder are all illegal ab initio' and have to he held so by all Courts, Tribunals and authorities."
12. With the incessant interference by the political figures which the framers of the policy of recruitment had obviously themselves invited, it was rather fallacious to expect merit to have prevailed over arbitrariness. The head of the District - Recruitment Committee can, therefore very aptly sayNevertheless, {{urdu text}}the record shows that whatever was possible was done by the appellant.
' When asked by this Court that out of more than thirty Districts of the Punjab, which of the Districts had made recruitments purely on merit ignoring the politicians, the learned District Attorney failed to mention anyone of such districts.
The charges against the appellant have absolutely not been proved and there was nothing on record justifying the imposition of the impugned penalty. As such, the appeal is accepted, the penalty in question is set aside and consequently, the appellant shall be entitled to all consequential benefits which have been denied to him due to the impugned penalty. There shall be no order as to costs.