Supreme Court rejects appeal in deceased employees’ quota recruitment case

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court of Pakistan, while hearing a case regarding recruitment under the quota for children of employees who died during service, dismissed the appeal of clerk Samia Nazir but barred the government from recovering salaries and benefits received during her employment.

During the hearing before the Constitutional Court, the petitioner’s lawyer argued that Samia Nazir had been recruited in Punjab before the quota system expired and maintained that the Supreme Court’s earlier ruling against such appointments did not apply to her case.

However, the Additional Advocate General of Punjab contended that the law regarding the employment of children of deceased employees had already expired in Punjab. Justice Baqir Najafi remarked that the quota system was no longer valid in the province, while Chief Justice Aminuddin noted that Sindh had also abolished the quota in light of the Supreme Court’s decision.

Chief Justice Aminuddin observed that if institutions had made appointments contrary to the law, employees could not be blamed for it. He further ruled that salaries and benefits received during the period of service could not be withdrawn from the employees.

The case concerned Samia Nazir, a clerk in the Agriculture Department, who had been dismissed from service. Both the Lahore High Court and the Constitutional Court upheld the dismissal and rejected appeals filed against the decision.