ISLAMABAD: The Federal Constitutional Court (FCC) has declared illegal, the recruitments made in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) during the caretaker setup from January 2023 to February 2024.
The FCC held that the caretaker government functions merely as a temporary custodian of the state machinery and has no mandate to frame or implement substantive policy decisions.
A three-member bench of the Federal Constitutional Court headed by Justice Syed Hassan Azhar Rizvi and comprising Justice Muhammad Karim Khan Agha and Justice Rozi Khan Barreech announced the judgment in a case related to recruitments made in the KP province during the caretaker government.
Petitioners Nauman Ahmed, Mst Fatima, Syed Jamal Shah, Awais Karni and Mst Faryal and others had challenged the verdict of Peshawar High Court passed on July 3, 2025 dismissing their petitions involving identical legal and factual issues, were held to be not maintainable and devoid of merit and were accordingly dismissed.
The Federal Constitutional Court after hearing the parties concerned also dismissed the appeals upholding the verdict of Peshawar High Court.
“It is a settled constitutional proposition that the caretaker government functions merely as a temporary custodian of the state machinery and is not clothed with the mandate to frame or implement substantive policy decisions,” says a ten-page judgment authored by Justice Rozi Khan Barrech.
The court held that the caretaker government’s role remains confined to ensuring administrative continuity, maintaining neutrality and facilitating the conduct of free, fair and transparent elections.
“Any act beyond this limited mandate, including permanent appointments, policy decisions, or financial commitments having long term consequences, would amount to a departure from its lawful sphere and would be amenable to judicial scrutiny,” says the judgment.
The court held that the in the present case, the petitioners have failed to demonstrate any violation or infringement of their fundamental rights under Articles 4, 9, and 25 of the Constitution, nor has any such infringement been established from the available record.
The court declared that recruitments made by the caretaker government from January 2023 to February 2024 were unlawful. The court ruled that the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Employees Dismissal Act 2025 does not violate fundamental rights.
The verdict stated that if a law affects some individuals, it does not necessarily mean that it violates fundamental rights. The court ruled that the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly, formed as a result of elections, has the constitutional authority to legislate.
