Islamabad: The Islamabad High Court has declared null and void the decision of the Central Selection Board not to promote an officer from grade 20 to 21 based on intelligence reports.
The court wrote that it is surprising for us that how a capable Prime Minister can let this happen carelessly? How can he leave his bureaucracy at the mercy of such intelligence reports without evidence and how can he expect his bureaucracy to serve the government in these circumstances?
Justice Sardar Ijaz Ishaq Khan of the Islamabad High Court issued a written decision approving the petition of petitioner Muhammad Tahir Hassan, in which he declared null and void the decision of the Central Selection Board dated August 1, 2023, to supersede the petitioner and promote an officer with low marks.
And directed the Central Selection Board to consider the promotion of Muhammad Tahir Hassan under the Civil Servants Promotion Rules in the next meeting.
The court said that the board should not care about such an intelligence report in which the officer did not get a chance to defend himself at the departmental level, the court wrote that according to the petitioner, he had a brilliant career from 1994 to 2022 and his secretary recommended promotion.
The petitioner’s credibility was questioned in the intelligence reports, on this basis, the one with low marks was given preference over the petitioner for promotion.
The court observed that instead of providing evidence and confirming it in the intelligence reports, the word “reportedly” was written.
No one knows how the intelligence reports were collected? An intelligence officer collected data by sitting in the office and making phone calls or through diligent intelligence work. Not giving a chance to defend on an allegation is a serious violation of fundamental rights.
