Business Recorder
ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court of Pakistan has held that stop-gap arrangements in government departments must not continue for an unlimited period, observing that prolonged ad-hoc, look-after, current, acting or additional charge appointments amount to exploitation and frustrate the spirit of service laws. “The unlimited, unbounded or infinite period does not support the philosophy of the phrase ‘stop-gap arrangement’, which is not meant to keep employees on the tenterhooks of uncertainty like a sword of Damocles,” said a judgment authored by Muhammad Ali Mazhar. READ ALSO: Suspended employee: SC declares withholding of pay & benefits unjust, contrary to rules A two-judge bench of the Supreme Court, comprising Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar and Musarrat Hilali, heard an appeal filed by the Secretary of Pakistan Railways against the Federal Services Tribunal (FST), Lahore. The brief facts of the case are that the respondent, Shahkar Qudos Hashmi, was appointed as Assistant Chemist and Metallurgist in Basic Pay Scale (BPS)-17. On March 2, 2012, he was assigned the additional charge of the higher post of CC&M (BS-18). He continued to hold the higher office without any break for nearly eight years until his regular promotion on August 17, 2020. The respondent approached the FST seeking regularisation of the eight-year service rendered by him in BPS-18 in the guise of ad-hoc, acting or look-after charge since March 2, 2012. Although he was regularised through the promotion order dated August 17, 2020, the continuity of the eight-year period of service was neither reckoned nor taken into consideration. The FST directed the department to pay the respondent the perks and benefits of the higher office with effect from March 2, 2012, and place his name before the next Departmental Promotion Committee (DPC) for consideration of his promotion after completion of five years’ regular service in BS-17. The judgment noted that under Section 2(a) of the Civil Servants Act, 1973, an “ad-hoc appointment” means the appointment of a duly qualified person made otherwise than in accordance with the prescribed method of recruitment, pending recruitment through the prescribed procedure. Regarding acting charge appointments, the judgment referred to Rule 8-B of the Civil Servants (Appointment, Promotion and Transfer) Rules, 1973, which provides that where the appointing authority considers it in the public interest to fill a post reserved for departmental promotion, and the most senior eligible civil servant does not possess the required length of service, the authority may appoint him to that post on an acting charge basis. The judgment further stated that in BPS-17 to BPS-22, acting charge may be assigned where no suitable officer in the relevant pay scale is available and it is expedient to fill the post. In such cases, the most senior officer otherwise eligible for promotion in the organisation, cadre or service may be appointed on an acting charge basis in excess of the promotion quota. The court observed that a stop-gap arrangement is purely temporary in nature and intended only to maintain official business until a permanent or regular solution is found. It serves as an interim measure to fill a vacancy so that public services are not disrupted. “Obviously, such engagements neither amount to permanent or regular appointments within a cadre nor does holding such posts on stop-gap arrangement confer any vested right to regular promotion in the higher grade,” the judgment stated. The court further observed that stop-gap arrangements should not continue indefinitely. “Prolonged ad-hoc, look-after charge, current charge and/ or acting or additional charge is indeed a form of exploitation which is not only egregious but also terribly frustrates the spirit of service laws.” The judgment concluded that the State, under the Constitution, is duty-bound to ensure social and economic justice and maintain transparency and fairness in the civil service structure as an essential component of good governance. Copyright Business Recorder, 2026
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