The Supreme Court has overturned a service tribunal verdict concerning the seniority of employees in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, reinstating their seniority to its original status. The court accepted the employees’ appeals and directed that their seniority be restored accordingly.
In a detailed 13-page judgment, Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar clarified that the employees’ regularisation would be effective from March 7, 2018, despite delays in the official gazette’s publication of their regularisation notifications. The court emphasized that such delays should not infringe upon the employees’ legal rights.
The judgment highlighted that employees should not be penalized for administrative shortcomings, stating that the state cannot take advantage of its own errors. It asserted, “An employee cannot be made a scapegoat because of administrative incompetence,” describing the delay in gazette publication as a mere administrative oversight.
Furthermore, the Supreme Court ruled that administrative delays could not invalidate employees’ legal entitlements, and the timing of notification publication should not be the sole factor in determining seniority.
The employees had been regularised under the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Employees Regularisation of Services Act, 2018, with effect from March 7, 2018. However, their regularisation notifications were issued on August 28 and October 17, 2018, and were only published in the official gazette on August 21, 2024.
Between 2019 and 2023, these employees were placed higher in seniority lists. Some employees later challenged the seniority list published in 2024, leading the service tribunal to annul it based on the delayed gazette publication.
In a significant development, the Supreme Court reversed the tribunal’s decision, restoring the employees’ seniority to its original standing. The court reaffirmed that administrative lapses could not be used to strip employees of rights that had already accrued to them.
