Permanent addresses of candidates during the recruitment process should be determined on the basis of domicile certificates instead of CNICs, the Supreme Court of Pakistan (SCP) has ruled.
The judgment came from the hearing of appeals against different decisions of the Peshawar High Court (PHC) issued between August 2018 and August 2019. The cases were filed by District Education Officer (DEO) Charsadda, Secretary Elementary and Secondary Education Department (ESED) KP, and Director ESED.
A three-judge bench led by Justice Sardar Tariq Masood heard the appeals. The appeals contended that many female candidates were put on the merit list of Primary School Teachers (PSTs). However, they were not selected for the job because their permanent address on CNICs differed from the area for which the vacancies were originally announced.
PHC initially ruled that domiciles should be verified for PSTs recruitment. A committee verified the domiciles of the PSTs on the merit list, but the shortlisted candidates were not appointed. Resultantly, contempt of court petitions were filed in PHC, which ordered to appoint the PSTs.
According to details, the SCP observed that the candidates clearly stated that their domicile certificates are of the areas for which the jobs were meant, and they presented logical explanations for changes in temporary addresses and claimed that their permanent addresses on CNICs and domicile certificates are the same.
The SCP noted that domicile certificates should be given priority during hiring, adding that the value of domiciles in hiring is rendered useless if CNICs are given more weightage, resulting in complications in the recruitment process.