KARACHI: The Sindh High Court (SHC) on Monday dismissed a plea of the former head of the anti-theft cell of the Karachi Water and Sewerage Board (KWSB) Rashid Siddiqui challenging the formation of departmental promotion and selection committees (DPSCs).

The committees were formed via a court order on June 10, 2021. The DPSCs were formed in compliance with May, 4 resolution of the KWSB.

The petitioner had challenged the notification being illegal on the grounds that it was contrary to a cabinet decision and in derogation of an earlier resolution of the board adopted on January 2.

Counsel for the petitioner Barrister Khawaja Shamsul Islam argued before, a two-member bench headed by Justice Irfan Sadar Khan, that the notification was in violation of section 19-A of General Clauses Act. He also claimed that the notification was in violation of the Constitution of the country as the members of the KWSB were included in the DPSCs creating a conflict of interest.

The court in its judgment authored by Justice Agha Faisal held that no decision of the cabinet was placed on the record by the petitioner. It also said that the counsel for the petitioner wrongly contended the order should have been placed by KWSB.

The court held that the board’s 2021 resolution had superseded its resolution of 2020 and the counsel for the petitioner did not challenge the resolution or the board or its composition.

The court observed that section 20-A of General Clauses Act dealt with the publication of rules and orders but the petitioner’s counsel did not endeavor to establish that the impugned notification fell within its remit.

The court further held that the petitioner failed to show how he was aggrieved by the impugned notification when no relief against the resolution itself was sought.