KARACHI: The meeting of Departmental Promotion Board (DPB), which was scheduled to take up the promotions of BS-18 officers into BS-19 of Pakistan Customs Service has been postponed after Supreme Court of Pakistan rejected the petition of Federation of Pakistan against the order of High Court to do away with a controversial office order.
Departmental Promotion Board (DPB) was scheduled to consider promotion of 34 officers.
A February 2014 office order, known as OM of overriding five marks, can stop the promotion of eligible officers. The government issued this order to control the bureaucracy.
As per the order, five marks out of 100 for the promotion of Grade 21 officers can be changed. These five marks, of integrity, are part of PM’s discretionary powers.
This means that if a person scores 95 marks out of 100 for his annual service but the PM thinks that the officer is not fit for promotion due to ‘integrity’ issues then he will not be promoted.
The government had promised before the Supreme Court that the controversial OM will be taken back.
The controversial, amended rule was challenged in the Islamabad High Court soon after the Central Selection Board (CSB) 2015. After a long litigation in the court, the federation lost the case in the High Court. Later, a review was filed which was also rejected by the court. The federal government later filed an appeal in the Supreme Court.
The Supreme Court dismissed the appeals and allowed the government to negotiate with the victimized officers. The Supreme Court that in case both the parties were agree the officers who were left in 2015 could be considered for promotion. The Supreme Court would issue the detailed order soon.