• Asif Shabbir and other petitioners asked the court to order the commission to revise the merit list and fill the seats fell vacant due to the further adjustment or quitting by the successful candidates.
• Some of the petitioners sought a direction for the PPSC to revise its original merit list after including their names from the waiting list.
• However, a government’s law officer opposed the petitions.

LAHORE: The Lahore High Court (LHC) has directed the Punjab Public Service Commission (PPSC) to decide within 30 days the representations of several candidates for the BS-17 posts of the Excise and Taxation Officer (ETO) in the province.

Asif Shabbir and other petitioners asked the court to order the commission to revise the merit list and fill the seats fell vacant due to the further adjustment or quitting by the successful candidates.

A counsel on behalf of the petitioners argued that the excise & taxation department should be restrained from advertising the vacant seats afresh rather fill the same by appointing the petitioners as per the revised merit list.

Some of the petitioners sought a direction for the PPSC to revise its original merit list after including their names from the waiting list.

However, a government’s law officer opposed the petitions.

The petitioners’ counsel pointed out that the PPSC revised the merit list of Combined Competitive Examination 2020 and completed the list by providing substitutes from the waiting list.

He said case of the petitioners needed to be considered for appointment as had been done in the cases of other candidates.

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In his written order, Justice Sajid Mahmood Sethi observed that the matter involved a factual controversy and legal aspect regarding the applicability of the PPSC regulations, which was required to be thrashed out by the commission.

He noted that no order in writing had been passed by the PPSC on the repeated applications of the petitioners.

The judge disposed of the petitions and remitted the matter to the PPSC to look into the grievance of the petitioners and redress it strictly in accordance with law through a well-reasoned speaking order.

“It is expected that no discriminatory treatment shall be meted out to the petitioners. The above process shall be completed within a period of 30 days from the date of receipt of certified copy of this order,” the judge concluded.