Overview
- The Federal Constitutional Court, which delivered its detailed judgment Friday, set aside the Sindh High Court ruling and quashed impugned executive orders issued by the Sindh Employees’ Social Security Institution and Port Qasim Authority.
- The court directed SESSI to issue a revised and lawful seniority list within 60 days and ordered PQA to reissue its list to reflect the departmental selection committee’s merit rankings.
- The FCC held that service on contract does not create vested seniority rights and that backdating regularisation cannot override seniority earned through lawful, regular appointment unless a statute explicitly allows it.
- The judgment makes preparing, circulating and publishing seniority lists a legal duty, requires annual January reviews and website uploads, and instructs provincial chief secretaries and the Establishment Division to ensure uniform compliance.
- The ruling clarifies that Article 199 can be used against statutory bodies for arbitrary or discriminatory administrative acts and that constitutional relief remains available in cases of manifest illegality even where departmental remedies exist, a step likely to reduce future promotion disputes and litigation if departments comply.