Islamabad, March 20, 2026 The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Thursday ordered the High Powers Selection Board (HPSB) to reconsider the promotion of seven bureaucrats from grade 21 to 22 with an announcement blackboard Invalidation of the recommendation of its twenty-ninth meeting.
The court ordered the HPSB to reconsider the promotion and make decisions only on their official service record.
However, the IEC rejected the petition against the formation of the High Powers Selection Board (HPSB) without the Prime Minister for the promotions of bureaucrats from grade 21 to 22. It declared that the meeting chaired by Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar was in compliance with the law and decided that the Prime Minister could allow any minister to chair the HPSB meeting.
Judge Inam Amin Minhas issued a 63-page written ruling in the case of non-promotion of 7 employees from grade 21 to 22. The court partially accepted the petitions of seven employees Muhammad Asad Islam Madani, Murtaza Khan, Sohail Ali Khan, Asif Saifullah Paracha, Aamir Zulfiqar Khan, Awais Noman Kunde, and Ms. Amna Imran.
The court ruled that the law of permanent deprivation of non-promotion to the 22nd grade was invalid despite being considered for promotion twice, considering that the amendment relating to deprivation of promotion in the future after ignoring promotion twice is contrary to the law. Despite improving service record, this amendment permanently disqualifies officers from promotion, the ruling said.
The court’s decision stated that the minutes of the meeting of the High Forces Selection Board show that on the basis of the negative evaluation of the officers, they were not recommended for promotion as they were described as lacking integrity, competence and decision-making ability, and the petitioners were declared to have average or average ability.
The court ordered the HPSB to reconsider the petitioners’ promotion, saying that instead of unverified personal information or impressions, only official service records should be relied upon.
IHC wrote that negative integrity findings were recorded in the cases of Sohail Ali Khan, Murtaza Khan, and Ms. Amna Imran. He pointed out that there was no basis for the negative findings in the service file, and the negative materials were never provided to the petitioners.
The court said that the board also made observations regarding the questionable financial integrity and reputation of the rank 21 officers. It ruled that if the integrity of an officer is truly questionable, formal action should be taken against him. No officer should be promoted to grade 22 due to his questionable financial reputation while being allowed to work at grade 21. Such exercise of discretion deprives the government employee of legitimate promotion by showing that he has questionable integrity and the alleged stigma is then automatically removed without any formal investigation or punishment.
The court declared the notification dated February 23, 2023, rendering the petitioner Aamir Zulfiqar as Chief Minister null and void and said that he should be granted appointment as per rank and seniority within 30 days.