Law: Constitution of Pakistan, 1973

Section: 199

Constitution of Pakistan-------Art.199---Civil service---Appointment of Primary School Teachers---Filing of Constitutional petition in 2023, questioning the recruitment process held in 2012--Laches, applicability of---Right not pursued in time would be deemed waived--Principle---No automatic appointment in case of non-joining of candidates placed above in the merit list---Scope---The petitioner participated in the recruitment process for the post of primary school teacher under the Recruitment Policy, 2012, after applying through an advertisement issued by the education department where four vacancies were available---After having secured 77 marks in the test the petitioner asserted that at least two vacancies remained unfilled due to selected candidates not joining, therefore he should have been appointed, whereas, Respondent No.5 (district education officer) clarified that four seats were available (two male, two female) and the final merit list closed at 87 marks and the petitioner's 77 marks fell below the cutoff---Held: After hearing the parties and examining the record, it was manifest that the recruitment process for primary school teachers in which the petitioner had participated was conducted in the year 2012---The present petition was filed in the year 2023 after a delay of eleven long years without any plausible explanation for such extraordinary and unexplained inaction---It has been a settled principle of law that courts do not lend assistance to a party who remains indolent in the assertion of their rights, therefore, the doctrine of laches squarely applied to the present case---A right not pursued in time, particularly in matters relating to public employment, would deemed to have been waived---Besides the involvement of laches, there appeared no case on merits--The merit list clearly demonstrated that the last appointed candidate had secured 87 marks, 10 marks more than the petitioner---No illegality, procedural impropriety, or violation of recruitment policy could be pointed out by the petitioner---Moreover, the policy relied upon did not contain any clause mandating automatic advancement to the next candidate in case of non-joining by selected…