The Islamabad High Court (IHC) has ordered that the Hajj DG appointment process be suspended and has given a stay order till the next hearing on January 11.
Grade 20 officer, Saima Saba submitted her application to be appointed as the DG of the Hajj.
Saima’s appeal had previously been rejected by a single bench of IHC led by Justice Babar Sattar, who ruled that it was inadmissible. In her appeal, the applicant claimed that out of the 48 applicants, she was one of the two who had completed the test for the job. She also stated that she received 71 out of 100 marks.
Saima then insisted that her interview went “extremely well” and that she had given “correct” answers to all of the questions.
The applicant claimed that she was “disqualified based on gender” and that she had been informed that she had not qualified.
She asked the court to hear the recording of her interview and declare the single bench’s decision invalid, claiming it was a “violation of the rights as stipulated in the Constitution” to suspend the hiring process based on gender.
Later, the Ministry of Religious Affairs was given instructions by a division bench of the IHC headed by Chief Justice Aamer Farooq to halt the hiring of the DG Hajj.
The court sent notice for January 11 to the minister of religious affairs and other parties.
