← All Case Highlights

Muhammad Jan and 3 others V. The Government of Balochistan through Chief Secretary and another,

KLR 2018 Criminal Cases 47 · Balochistan High Court

This case is about workers of the Zakat and Ushr Department in Balochistan who had been employed on contract, and later temporary, basis for around ten to twelve years as Audit Officers, effectively performing what they said were permanent duties. Instead of regularizing their long service, the government advertised the same posts (including newly created posts meant for their regularization) for fresh appointments. The petitioners asked the High Court to declare this advertisement unlawful, to stop treating their positions as contractual, and to direct the government to regularize their employment against sanctioned posts, counting their years of service.

The Balochistan High Court ruled in favor of the petitioners. It held that although they were technically contract employees, the nature of their jobs was permanent, since they had served for over a decade without any complaints of misconduct or incompetence, and their work remained continuously necessary to the department. The re-advertisement of the same posts, the court noted, actually proved the ongoing need for these roles. Relying on earlier Supreme Court precedents on long-serving contract employees, the court directed the authorities to regularize the petitioners' services, though without back benefits, in accordance with the law.

The case matters because it reinforces the principle that long-term contract workers performing essential, permanent functions cannot indefinitely be denied job security, and government departments cannot bypass regularization obligations by re-advertising the same positions.

Read the full judgment →