Islamabad: The Federal Constitutional Court on Tuesday directed the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government to produce the complete record of all recruitments of Class IV sanitation workers made since 2016, saying it would examine whether the appointments were carried out in accordance with the law and prescribed rules.
A bench comprising Justice Aamir Farooq and Justice Hasan Azhar Rizvi issued the order while hearing a petition challenging the recruitment process.
During the proceedings, counsel for the petitioners argued that appointments had been made despite a ban on political interference and alleged that some candidates were recruited on the basis of recommendation letters issued by a member of the provincial assembly.
The Additional Advocate General for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, however, rejected the allegation, saying the letter attributed to the Member Provincial Assembly was fake as it carried neither signatures, nor a reference number, nor an official seal. He remarked that such forged documents could easily be generated on a computer.
Justice Aamir Farooq responded that at least such fake documents should not be produced before the court, drawing laughter in the courtroom.
During the hearing, it also emerged that candidates holding Master’s degrees had applied for the sanitation worker posts.
Justice Hasan Azhar Rizvi observed that even if highly educated candidates were appointed as sanitation workers, they would not actually perform sanitation duties. He remarked that such employees often remained in uniform while the city continued to suffer from poor cleanliness. He further noted that one of the petitioners had received religious seminary education and described it as unfortunate that educated people were being compelled to seek Class IV jobs because of limited employment opportunities.
Justice Aamir Farooq observed that even if the petitioner had been appointed, such recruitment would still have fallen within the category of appointments made in violation of the recruitment ban. He added that accommodating two individuals in a Class IV post would not make any significant difference.
The Additional Advocate General informed the court that the petitioners were now 47 years old and, therefore, granting them age relaxation was not legally permissible.
The court directed the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government to submit the complete record of all sanitation workers recruitment made from 2016 to date and adjourned further hearing until next week.