MUHAMMAD ASGHAR vs GOVERNMENT OF SIND
This matter comes before the Supreme Court of Pakistan upon a petition for leave to appeal under Article 212(3) of the Constitution of Pakistan 1973, directed against the order of the Sind Services Tribunal dated 30-9-1974. The petitioner, a former magistrate, was convicted by a Summary Military Court and subsequently dismissed from service. Although he was later granted a pardon by the Governor Punjab under President's Order 14 of 1972, the Government of Sind refused to restore him to service, deeming him unfit, a view upheld by the Tribunal which held that the pardon only remitted the sentence without annulling the conviction. The core legal question concerns the effect of a pardon on statutory disqualifications arising from a criminal conviction. The Court held that the petition raises a substantial question of law of public importance within the meaning of Article 212(3) of the Constitution and granted leave to appeal.
- Does the grant of a pardon by the Governor under President's Order 14 of 1972 automatically remove the disqualifications resulting from a criminal conviction?
- Whether the Sind Services Tribunal was correct in holding that a pardon remits the sentence but does not annul the conviction?
- Does a petition challenging the refusal of a service tribunal to restore a pardoned civil servant to service raise a substantial question of law of public importance under Article 212(3) of the Constitution of Pakistan 1973?
- Article 212(3), Constitution of Pakistan 1973
- Section 354, Pakistan Penal Code
- Section 341, Pakistan Penal Code
- Section 506, Pakistan Penal Code
- Section 4, Sind Services Tribunal Act 1973
ORDER
1. ' MUHAMMAD GUL, J.--This petition under Article 212 (3) of the Constitution is directed against the order of the Sind Services Tribunal, dated 30-9-1974, refusing redress to the petitioner, in the circumstances set out below.
2. ' The petitioner entered service under the former Province of West Pakistan and was appointed Additional City Magistrate, Karachi in September, 1959. After serving at various places as Magistrate, he was posted as Section 30 Magistrate at Jhelum, when a criminal case under sections 354, 341 and 506, P. P. C. Was registered against him and another, vide F. I. R. No, 441 dated 25-12-69 at P. S. Jhelum city. He was tried and sentenced by Sumrrary Military Court to one year's R.
3. I. Vide order dated 21-5-1970. As a result of the conviction, he was also dismissed from service in May 1972. The Province of West Pakistan, having been dissolved in the meantime and on a petition made in that behalf by the petitioner, the Governor Punjab, in exercise of powers under P.
0. 14 of 1972, vide order dated 24-2-1973 granted pardon to the petitioner. As a sequel to the grant of pardon, the petitioner, claimed restoration to his service in the successor Province of Sind. This was refused by the Government, on the ground that he was unfit for future service. He filed an appeal under section 4 of the Sind Services Tribunal Act, 1973, and the position taken by the petitioner was that with the grant of pardon by the Governor Punjab, the disqualification suffered by him as a result of his conviction by the Summary Military Court had automatically disappeared.
4. The learned Sind Services, Tribunal, however, vide order dated 30-9-1974, took the view that with the grant of pardon only the sentence was remitted, the petitioner's conviction was not annulled.
5. ' Against this order, the petitioner seeks leave to appeal.
6. In support of this petition, learned counsel for the petitioner relied on Hay v. Justice s of the Tower Division of London (1) in which the rule laid down was that the grant of "a free pardon under the Royal Sign-manual" to a person convicted of felony and therefore, disqualified from selling spirits by retail shall remove such disqualification. In support of that proposition, learned counsel also relied upon American Jurisprudence Volume XX XIX, page 523.
7. ' The petition, in our opinion raises a "substantial question of law of public importance" within the meanings of Article 212(3) of the Constitution. Accordingly, we grant leave.
8. Security Rs, 1,000.