By Terence J Sigamony
Copyright brecorder
ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) ordered the removal of Major General Hafeezur Rehman (retd) from his post of Chairman of the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA).
A single bench of Justice Babar Sattar on Tuesday announced his reserved verdict in a petition filed by Usama Khilji through advocate Asad Ladha.
The petitioner had impugned an advertisement dated 29.03.2023 announcing a vacancy for the office of Member (Administration) in Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) and inviting applications from candidates who satisfied the qualification, experience, and age criteria mentioned in the impugned advertisement.
The petitioner further sought a declaration that the post of Member (Administration) was in contravention of provisions of the Pakistan Telecommunication Re-Organization Act, 1996, and Pakistan Telecommunication Authority’s Chairman and Member (Appointment and Qualifications) Rules, 2013.
Justice Sattar, in a 99-page judgment, stated the appointment of the PTA chairman was not legally valid, adding that a senior member of the PTA should be appointed as the chairman temporarily.
The judgment said that as the entire process of appointment of Respondent No. 4 (Maj-Gen Retd Hafeezur Rehman, as Member (Administration) and as Chairman PTA has been found to suffer from malice in law, being the product of an unconstitutional and illegal recruitment process, he shall cease to hold such appointments and shall immediately relinquish charge for such offices.
The Court directed that the senior-most serving member PTA will temporarily assume the charge of the office of Chairman PTA, till such time that the federal government appoints a regular Chairman in accordance with the requirements of Section 3 of the Telecom Act, read with provisions of the PTA Appointment Rules, while following an objective and transparent process for appointing Chairman PTA as laid down in Muhammad Ashraf Tiwana and Barrister Sardar Muhammad Ali.
The federal government was asked to amend the PTA Appointment Rules to lay down the qualifications, criteria, and process for appointment of the Chairman of the PTA, in accordance with the principles enumerated in Muhammad Yasin, Muhammad Ashraf Tiwana, and Barrister Sardar Muhammad Ali.
The IHC also declared that the impugned Advertisement was ultra vires Section 3 of the Telecom Act and the PTA Appointment Rules, at the time when the advertisement was published, and (ii) the recruitment process lacked integrity and suffered from malafide in law, the subsequent steps taken by the Federal Government in filling the post of Member (Administration) pursuant to the Impugned Advertisement are not sustainable in the eyes of law and are of no legal effect.
As the Impugned Advertisement and the process of recruitment undertaken there under suffered from malice in law, all subsequent decisions in pursuit of such process, including the appointment of Respondent No.4 as Member (Administration) and Chairman PTA, are illegal, ultra vires the law and of no legal effect.
The judgment noted that the creation of the post of Member (Administration) is ultra vires Section 3 of the Telecom Act and has been created for extraneous reasons as opposed to realising the objects of the Telecom Act. While such post may be created by the federal government after taking into account considerations relevant to realise the objects of the Telecom Act, such action can only be undertaken while introducing appropriate amendments in Section 3(8) and (9) of the Telecom Act, as also noted in the summaries for creation of such post put up before the Prime Minister and the federal cabinet.
As the creation of the post and prescription of qualifications of such post to accommodate Respondent No.4 has been declared to suffer from malafide in law, such post shall be deemed not to exist and the amendments introduced in the PTA Appointment Rules for such purpose are declared to be ultra vires Articles 4, 10-A, 18 and 25 of the Constitution and Section 3 and 57 of the Telecom Act.
The judgment noted that the summaries initiated seeking approval for creation of the post of Member (Administration) while specifying educational and age criteria in contrast to the educational and age criteria for the posts of other members as prescribed in the PTA Appointment Rules suffered from malice in law.
The decisions rendered by the Prime Minister and the Federal Cabinet to approve such summaries and subsequently to approve a summary to dispense with the requirement to first amend the Telecom Act and the PTA Appointment Rules and subsequently initiate a process of recruitment for the post of Member (Administration) also suffered from malafide in law.
The recruitment process initiated to fill the post of Member (Administration) before the amendment of PTA Appointment Rules to provide for the creation of the post and its qualifications, for which amended rules were notified in the Gazette on 04.05.2023, suffered from illegality and procedural impropriety.
The qualifications approved for the post of Member (Administration) with the minimum educational qualification of B.Sc. in the relevant discipline and the maximum age requirement of 61 years, in contrast to the educational and age criteria for other members, were person-specific qualifications designed to appoint a pre-ordained individual to the post of Member (Administration) and subsequently Chairman PTA.
The entire process of creation of the post of Member (Administration), prescription of qualifications and criteria for such post, and the manner in which the recruitment process was carried out lacked integrity and suffered from malafide in law.
The recommendation by the Selection Committee of a panel of three individuals for the appointment to the post of Member (Administration) was not in conformance with the requirements of Rule 4(4) of the PTA Appointment Rules, which required that only one candidate be so recommended.
The decision of the Federal Government to pick the candidate listed at the bottom of penal recommended by the Selection Committee based on merit was devoid of any reasoning or objective basis and fell afoul of the obligation of the Federal Government under Section 24A of the General Clauses Act, 1897, to act in a just, fair, and reasonable manner.
Similarly, the appointment of Respondent No.4 as Chairman of the PTA, after being appointed as Member (Administration), without any objective or transparent process and without the Federal Government recording any reasons as to why he was so selected from amongst the members of PTA, was illegal, irrational, and unsustainable in the eyes of law.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2025
