548 appointments in Gepco declared illegal

[Lahore_Real_Estate]

LAHORE - Justice Farrukh Irfan Khan of Lahore High Court Wednesday declared null and void the illegal appointments of 548 candidates in Gujranwala Electric Power Company (Gepco) who were inducted on political basis in violation of the merit policy.
The judge issued this order on a petition filed by one Asad Mehmood Khan, resident of Gujranwala. The judge observed that the said appointments made in GEPCO were in violation of rules and regulation and ordered cancellation of all such appointments besides directives to fill the vacancies afresh in accordance with the policy of merit.
According to petitioner, the appointments had been made on the directions of Minister for Water and Power Raja Pervez Ashraf and qualified candidates were not even called for tests or interviews despite giving an advertisement of the vacancies. The petitioner pleaded that hundreds of candidates had been appointed in grade 1 to grade 15 in GEPCO ignoring rules and regulations and 95 percent of the candidates belonged to the constituency of water and power minister.
Petitioner’s counsel Muhammad Younus advocate argued that through an advertisement in an Urdu newspaper Wapda had invited application for the various posts from Gujranwala division only in order to fill vacancies in Gepco. He said over 7,000 candidates from Gujranwala division had applied for different posts against the advertisement published on Nov 2, 2008. However, none of the qualified applicants were called for interviews and tests, he said. Later on January 30, 2010 blue eye candidates of MNAs and MPAs were appointed on the vacant seats on the instructions of the minister.
The counsel stated that the respondent authorities (Gepco) violated merit policy just to oblige the minister and to accommodate the candidates from his constituency. The constituency of the minister comprised Gujjar Khan and Rawalpindi, while applications were invited only from Gujranwala division by the advertisement, he added.
Counsel pointed out that hundreds of more vacancies in the division were still being filled at the behest of the minister setting aside the rules and regulations.
He requested the court to set aside all such appointments and order fresh appointments on merit.
The petitioner also submitted that besides Gujranwala, political recruitments are being made in Faisalabad, Hafizabad, Sialkot, Narowal, Gujrat and Mandi Bahauddin districts.
It is pertinent to mention here that earlier on February 25 Justice Farrukh had stayed appointments in Gepco till decision of the petition against the recruitment process.