The court observes that an interim organization can never be equal in authority to an elected government
ISLAMABAD:
The Federal Constitutional Court (FCC) declared appointments made during the interim period illegal, while upholding the constitutionality of a law enacted to dismiss those employees, in a major ruling on the scope of powers of interim governments.
A three-member bench headed by Justice Hassan Azhar Rizvi issued a detailed written ruling stating that caretaker governments are mandated only to carry out day-to-day administrative matters and cannot take decisions of a permanent nature.
The court observed that an interim organization can never be equated in authority with an elected government, adding that all actions taken by such governments are subject to prior approval of the Election Commission of Pakistan.
According to the ruling, the hiring of employees constitutes a permanent action and not a temporary measure and, therefore, falls outside the mandate of an incumbent government.
The court ruled that the appointments made between January 2023 and February 2024 during the interim period in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (KP) were illegal.
He maintained that the KP Employee Dismissal Act 2025 does not violate fundamental rights. He clarified that the fact that a law affects certain people does not automatically make it unconstitutional.
The ruling noted that the KP Assembly, formed after the general elections, has the constitutional authority to legislate, including the promulgation of laws related to public employment.
Consequently, the court dismissed appeals filed by the terminated employees who had challenged both their dismissal and the law under which they were removed.
The case concerns the hiring of Grade IV employees by the caretaker KP government ahead of the 2024 general elections. After the general elections, the PTI government dismissed those employees through legislation, prompting affected individuals to challenge the move in court.
