ISLAMABAD – The Supreme Court of Pakistan has ruled that service rendered on a contract basis cannot be counted as regular service for the purpose of promotions in government employment.
The 16-page verdict, authored by Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar, states that contract service does not fall within the legal definition of a civil servant and therefore cannot be included when calculating the minimum length of service required for promotion.
The court said treating contract service as regular service would amount to granting contract employees the status of civil servants from the very beginning, which would be an incorrect interpretation of the law.
The judgment further noted that counting contract service for promotions would undermine the provisions of both the federal and provincial Civil Servants Acts that exclude contract employees from the definition of a civil servant. It added that the interpretation of the term “government service” must remain within the framework of the Civil Servants Acts.
Referring to Rule 10 of the Sindh Civil Servants Rules, 1975, the court said a civil servant’s seniority is calculated from the date of regular appointment and that no appointment can be regularised retrospectively under the rules.
The ruling came in an appeal filed by Muhammad Saleem Sheikh, a WAPDA employee, challenging a Sindh Service Tribunal decision. Sheikh had sought to have his contract service counted toward his eligibility for promotion. The Supreme Court upheld the tribunal’s decision and dismissed the appeal.
