Supreme Court upholds spouse’s right to joint posting

A division bench, headed by Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar and also comprising Justice Musarrat Hilali, gave its ruling on an appeal filed by Naheeda Aziz against the Jan 17, 2023 decision of the Punjab Service Tribunal, that had rejected her transfer request. While citing federal and provincial governments’ wedlock policies, Justice Mazhar noted that such policies mitigate and alleviate the socio-economic problems and hardships faced by husbands and wives in government service due to postings at different duty stations. The SC verdict, authored by Justice Mazhar, set aside the rejection of the petitioner’s transfer request under the wedlock policy, with a direction to the relevant authorities to reconsider her application within 15 days. The 16-page judgement emphasised that beneficial policies aimed at keeping married couples together must not be frustrated on technical grounds. The court ordered the office to send copies of the verdict to the Punjab chief minister, chief secretary and advocate general. According to the judgement, the Punjab government’s wedlock policy, rooted in the constitutional protection of marriage and family under Article 35, carries binding force and cannot be ignored on the basis of rigid service rules. The petitioner had been appointed as Assistant (BPS-14) in the Board of Revenue and posted in Lahore, while her husband, also serving in the Revenue Department, was posted in Faisalabad as a clerk (BPS-11).