Law: Constitution of Pakistan

Section: 199

(a) Constitution of Pakistan Art.199---Employment---Probationary employee, termination of---Constitutional petition field by probationary employee---Maintainability---After joining the post on probation it was revealed that petitioner/candidate failed to meet the prescribed criteria on the date of submission of his application---Eligibility---The petitioner applied for the post of Director Human Resource Management (HRM) in the Public Procurement Regulatory Authority (PPRA) by presenting his academic credentials, including an MBA in Information Technology Management (ITM) and a Ph.D. in Social and Economic Sciences, which he claimed to be in HRM---He was appointed to the post, however, upon later scrutiny, the PPRA found that his degrees did not correspond to the prescribed qualification of a Master s degree (16 years education) in HRM or an equivalent field, and that he had misrepresented his Ph.D. as being in HRM---Consequently, the managing director directed him to provide an HEC equivalence certificate validating his qualification, failing which his services were terminated---The core issue for determination was as to whether the petitioner was eligible at the time of submitting his application for the advertised post ?---Held: The answer to question was clearly in negative as the petitioner did not possess the qualification prescribed in the advertisement, rather he maneuvered his credentials in a manner designed to misrepresent his eligibility and thereby enter public service through deceptive means, ultimately causing loss of confidence in the integrity of recruitment process---Once a public servant was found to have secured appointment by misrepresentation thereby betraying the public trust it would be wholly inappropriate to permit his continuation in service---Since the petitioner lacked the basic qualification for the post he could not in law or equity claim any right to continue in office---His appointment was vitiated from its very inception and being on probation, his services were rightly terminated by the competent authority in exercise of delegated powers---Termination of probationary employee did not warrant interference in the Constitutional…