Form No.

HCJD/C-121

ORDER SHEET
IN THE LAHORE HIGH COURT
LAHORE.
JUDICIAL DEPARTMENT
Case No. W.P.No.38980/2016

MUHAMMAD ASHFAQ, ETC

VS
PROVINCE OF PUNJAB, ETC.

S. No. of Date of Order with signature of Judge, and that of parties or counsel, where
order/ order/ necessary
proceedings proceeding
16.05.2017 Malik Muhammad Awais Khalid, Advocate for the petitioners.

Mr. Abdul Aziz Awan, Additional Advocate General with

Rana Muhamamd Latif S.P (Legal), Muhammad Asif Ali
Sheikh DSP(Legal) from the office of CCPO, Lahore and
Muhammad Salim Chughtai, DSP (Legal), CPO office,
Lahore.

Briefly the facts of the case are that pursuant to an

advertisement published in print media flashing vacancies of
constables (BPS-05), the petitioner also submitted their application
forms and on completion of process, the following category wise
merit list was prepared and displayed on 30.05.2016:-

Sr. No. Category Number of appointees

1 Open Merit 2065
2 Ex-Army men 2
3 Minorities 58
4 Female 176

While 115 candidates, including present petitioners were kept in the

waiting list. Through this writ petition, precise grievance of the
petitioners is that after issuance of merit list, some selectees were not
issued appointment letters on the basis of non-verification of
documents, for not having good antecedent and even for not having
physical standards after examination by the medical board as
required for the job and some selectees did not join after completion
of all formalities for the reasons best known to them. A waiting list
of 115 candidates including present petitioners was prepared, affixed
and they were not offered appointments against the remaining vacant
posts and the department published new advertisement to fill the
vacant seats through fresh process.

2. It is argued by learned counsel for the petitioners that without

challenging the merit list or the selection process, the petitioners
have a straightforward case i.e. once the candidates who were
offered appointments but they did not join, the seats became vacant
and the petitioners who were admittedly on the waiting list and thus
a vested right had accrued in their favour, must have been offered
appointments. Therefore, without offering appointments to the
waiting list candidates, new advertisement to fill in the vacant posts
through a fresh selection process is not the legal course, rather it
frustrates the basic purpose of preparation of waiting list. In support
of his argument, the learned counsel placed reliance on the case
“GOVERNMENT OF N.-W.F.P through Secretary, Education
Department, Peshawar and others versus QASIM SHAH” (2009
SCMR 382) and “SUMARA UMAR AWAN versus CHANCELLOR
GOMAL UNIVERSITY, D.I. KHAN and 4 others” (2014 PLC (C.S)
526).

3. On the other hand, it has been argued by learned law officer

that waiting list will be valid for thirty days after display of final list
and as the merit list was displayed on 30.05.2016, therefore, after
30.06.2016 the waiting list became redundant, as such, fresh
advertisement was issued. In this respect, Standing Order
No.06/2015 issued by Government of the Punjab, Police Department
has been referred.

4. I have heard the arguments of learned counsel for the parties at

considerable length and perused the record with their assistance.

5. As shall be seen from the above narration of facts and the

arguments of learned counsel for the parties, no challenge has been
thrown to the recruitment process, subject matter of this writ petition
and precisely the question involved in this case is the effect of
waiting list. Before proceeding further, a table is drawn hereunder to
clarify the final position:-

DETAIL OF RECRUITMENT OF CONSTABLES/LADY CONSTABLES NOVEMBER,

2015.
Sr. Recruited Remaining Remarks
No
1 OPEN MERIT 1611 1564 47 -
2 WOMAN QUOTA 345 175 170 Unreserved (remaining seats to be
filled by the male candidates)
3 MINORITY QUOTA @ 115 52 63 63 Carry Forward
15%
4 EX-ARMY PERSONNEL 230 2 228 As 10% of the vacancies is the
QUOTA @ 10% maximum limit of recruiting ex-
army personnel in the recruitment
process, hence, the remaining
seats to be filled through the
general merit.
5 TOTAL VACANCIES 2301 1793 508-63=445 63 Carry Forward

There is no second view that after exhausting the above procedure, if

the seats against reserved quota (excluding those reserved for
minorities) remain vacant, the same would convert into open merit
and had to be filled accordingly. As is visible from the above table
taken from the reply submitted by Capital City Police Officer,
Lahore, after completing the process, for all intents and purposes,
according to the above drawn table, the remaining posts against open
merit would become 445, and here come the candidates who fell on
the waiting list.

6. The argument of learned law officer with regard to 30 days’

life of the waiting list after display of merit list, is to be seen in the
light of Standing Order No.06/2015. Sections 22, 23, 24 and 25 are
reproduced hereunder:-

“22. MERIT LIST.

A merit list will be prepared by the Recruitment Board on the

basis of marks obtained by a particular candidate in written
test, family claims and interview.

Waiting list of 5% of the vacancies will be displayed along-

with result of successful candidates which will be valid for 30
days after display of final list.

23. BACKGROUND INVESTIGATION.

The District Police Officer shall send the requisite

information of the successful candidates to the Addl:
 Inspector General of Police, Special Branch and also to the
concerned Police Station of the District where the candidate
resides.

The two offices i.e. Addl: IGP Special Branch and District
Police Officer concerned shall put every effort to verify the
personal character, academic certificates and other relevant
facts of the successful candidates.

The verification reports shall be minutely scrutinized by the

DPO before issuing appointment letters.

Candidates having criminal record or affiliation with any

proscribed organization shall not be appointed.

24. MEDICAL CHECK-UP.

Initially selected candidates after verification of antecedents

shall appear before a medical board. Call letters t the
candidates at the residential address will be issued by the
DPO concerned.

25. FINAL SELECTION/APPOINTMENT ORDERS.

Selection of candidates shall be based on merit. The selected

candidates shall be allocated to respective Districts/Units
according to their domicile and the vacancies available. The
appointment orders shall be issued by the respective District
Police Officers/competent authorities as the case may be.

Those candidates selected against the quota of SPU shall

have to furnish a certificate stating therein that they are
willing to serve any where in the Province and as per terms
and conditions laid down in their appointment letter.”

From bare perusal of para-22 above, it appears that in first part the
merit list is to be prepared by the recruitment board on the basis of
settled criteria and in the second part waiting list of 5% of the
vacancies will be displayed along with result of the successful
candidates and waiting list will be valid for thirty days after display
of final list. The authority issuing the Standing Order intentionally
did not use the word “merit list” and it used the word “final list”,
which fact indicates that merit list is different from the final list.
From paras 23, 24 and 25, it appears that after preparation of merit
list, the DPO shall send requisite information of the successful
candidates to the Addl: Inspector General of Police, Special Branch
and also to the concerned Police Station of the District where the
candidate resides and two offices i.e. Addl: IGP Special Branch and
District Police Officer concerned shall verify the personal character,
academic certificates and other relevant facts of the successful
candidates and then this report will be scrutinized by the DPO before
issuing the appointment letter. After successful scrutiny, the cleared
candidates shall appear before a medical board after receiving call
letters from the concerned DPO and then final selection will be
made on successful completion of the process. This process clearly
draws a distinction between merit list and the final list. Merit list is
prepared on the basis of marks obtained by the candidates in the
written test, family claim and interview, whereas, final list is to be
prepared after verification of antecedents of the candidates as per
merit list, their medical checkup and then they will be allowed to
join and at this stage final list shall be prepared, hence, there is a hell
of difference between the merit list and the final list. From use of
two words i.e. merit list and the final list in para-22 of the Standing
Order, ibid, it becomes crystal clear that after completion of
recruitment process as per merit list and after joining the candidates
against their posting, the waiting list will come to surface. This fact
is further clarified by the merit list itself which has been produced
before this Court, wherein, it has been clearly mentioned that “This
result is by no means final and if any of the candidates is found
ineligible or his documents are found fake/forged, his result will
stand cancelled.” Hence, the list dated 30.05.2016 is only the merit
list and not the final list and it could not be said that after thirty days
of this list, the list of the waiting candidates would stand scratched.

7. Another aspect of the matter is that some of the candidates

who were offered appointments on open merit, minority quota or
even women quota, have been allowed to join their appointments in
the year 2017. In this respect a chart has been provided by the
respondents themselves and for ready reference the same table,
showing order numbers, date of issuance, number of Constables and
the dates of joining, is drawn hereunder:-
A perusal of the above chart shows that final appointment letters
were issued to five candidates on 22.04.2017 and they joined on
26.04.2017, and on this date the above mentioned process from merit
list was completed and then the final list had to be prepared.
Thereafter, the period of thirty days would reckon for the waiting list
candidates.

8. The question of status of the candidates figuring in the waiting

list has been decided by the Hon’ble Supreme Court of Pakistan in
the case “GOVERNMENT OF N.-W.F.P through Secretary,
Education Department, Peshawar and others versus QASIM SHAH”
(2009 SCMR 382) and “SUMARA UMAR AWAN versus
CHANCELLOR GOMAL UNIVERSITY, D.I. KHAN and 4 others”
(2014 PLC (C.S) 526), wherein, it has been held that:-
“when some of the selected candidates do not join the
service, such pots remain vacant and it was imperative for
the department to have considered the remaining
candidates for appointment against said posts. Such posts
 cannot be kept vacant till the next process of recruitment,
if some of the selected candidates were still available on
the waiting list.”
Thus, it was concluded that failure of the department to appoint the
persons from waiting list, was not in accordance with the fair
practice of recruitment. The above verdict of the Apex Court was
followed in the case “SUMARA UMAR AWAN versus
CHANCELLOR GOMAL UNIVERSITY, D.I. KHAN and 4 others”
(2014 PLC (CS) 526), and it was held that drill of subsequent
requisition in ordinary course to re-advertise the vacancy would on
one hand frustrate the procedure adopted and on the other, would
deprive successful candidates whose names appeared in the waiting
list, and to whom a vested right had been accrued.

9. For what has been discussed above, the stance of the

respondent department that waiting list would remain valid only for
thirty days w.e.f. display of merit list, is nullity in the eyes of law.
The list of waiting candidates will come to surface only after
completion of recruitment process from the merit list and preparation
of final list of the selected candidates who join their posting.
Consequently this writ petition is allowed and the respondent
department is directed to issue appointment letters to the petitioners
and to all other remaining candidates whose names figured in the
waiting list, on the ground of equality and good governance.
However, they will be allowed to join subject to verification of their
antecedents and other relevant documents and clearance of medical
test, as required by law.

(MUHAMMAD QASIM KHAN)

JUDGE.
APPROVED FOR REPORTING.
Javed*