ISLAMABAD:
The Islamabad High Court (IHC) has dismissed the chairman of the country’s internet and telecom regulator — the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority — in view of his illegal hiring.
The court has also ordered one of the senior members of the PTA to take charge of the organization as interim chairman and instructed the federal government to appoint a new chairman through a trans-parent process in line with the PTA Appointment Rules and the Telecom Act.
The bench has also instructed its office to send a copy of the judgment to the cabinet secretary and PTA members for implementation. Meanwhile, the sacked official, Major General (retd) Hafeezur Rehman, has filed an intra-court appeal against the verdict.
A single-member bench of the IHC comprising Justice Babar Sattar on Tuesday unveiled its order on conclusion of proceedings initiated on basis of a complaint filed by Usama Khilji.
Khilji in 2023 challenged an advertisement, announcing a vacancy for the office of PTA member (ad-ministration) and inviting applications from candidates.
The petitioner contended that the post of member (administration) was in contravention of provisions of the Pakistan Telecommunication Reorganization Act, 1996 — Telecom Act — and the PTA Chairman and Member (Appointment and Qualifications) Rules, 2013 — PTA Appointment Rule.
He had requested the court to restrain the federal government from filling the position of member (administration) on the basis of the advertisement.
While admitting the petition for hearing, the IHC on May 24, 2023 allowed the government to proceed with the process of soliciting and processing applications pursuant to the advertisement.
It, however, made it clear that any appointment made pursuant to such process would be subject to the outcome of the petition “and the determination of whether there exists rational basis for the fed-eral government to prescribe disparate eligibility criteria for the posts of Member PTA”.
Later the authority appointed Major General (retd) Hafeezur Rehman first as the PTA member (ad-ministration) and later as the authority’s chairman.
The 99-page order stated that the advertisement was ultra vires Section 3 of the Telecom Act and the PTA Appointment Rules at the time when the advertisement was published and the recruitment pro-cess lacked integrity and suffered from malafide in law.
It declared that steps taken by the government in filling the post of member (administration) pursuant to the advertisement were not sustainable in the eyes of law and are of no legal effect.
“The entire edifice of processes and decisions built on an illegal foundation must crumble upon such illegal foundation. 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 vir-es the law and of no legal effect,” the order said.
It said the creation of the post of member (administration) was ultra vires Section 3 of the Telecom Act and had been created for extraneous reasons as opposed to realizing the objects of the Telecom Act.
“While such post may be created by the Federal Government after taking into account considerations relevant to realize the objects of the Telecom Act, such action can only be undertaken while introduc-ing appropriate amendments in section 3(8) and (9) of the Telecom Act, as also noted in the summar-ies 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 Respond-ent No 4 (PTA chairman) 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 de-clared to be ultra vires Articles 4, 10-A, 18 and 25 of the Constitution and section 3 and 57 of the Tele-com Act.
“As the entire process of appointment of Respondent No 4 as Member (Administration) and as Chairman PTA has been found to suffer from malice in law being the product of an unconstitutional and ille-gal recruitment process, he shall cease to hold such appointments and shall immediately relinquish charge for such offices,” the order said.