ISLAMABAD: Pakistan's public servant conduct rules can reach behaviour outside office hours when it is serious enough to shake trust in the state, the Supreme Court held while dismissing a challenge by a former Intelligence Bureau cook to his removal from service.
A bench led by Justice Ayesha Malik, sitting with Justice Shahid Waheed, refused relief to Jawad Abbasi. Departmental authorities had forced him out after an inquiry concluded he allegedly burned his spouse, was rude and had a short temper. The same process treated his behaviour as unprofessional, harmful to service discipline and damaging to the IB's standing.
How the bench framed private life
Justice Waheed authored the nine-page decision. He noted that a woman's dignity—whether as a spouse, relative or fellow citizen—is a core value guarded by the Constitution. Honouring that dignity, the court said, is a duty the state may expect from everyone on its payroll, not a personal preference someone in uniform may pick up or drop at will.
The ruling cast government work as a public trust. How staff behave at home can matter as much as how they behave at the desk, it held, because faith in the civil service rests on people who serve the state honouring those around them. Character and integrity away from the workplace may be weighed when they affect fitness for office, internal discipline or confidence in the institution.
Under public servant conduct rules, therefore, desk performance is not the only measure. Private life can enter the assessment when it bears on suitability for a state post.
Inquiry findings versus the criminal acquittal
Abbasi faced proceedings under the Civil Servants (Efficiency and Discipline) Rules, 2020. Investigators treated the charges as proved. On 14 June 2024 he was penalised with compulsory retirement. His internal challenge failed. On 15 January the Federal Service Tribunal backed that penalty. A trial court, by contrast, cleared him on the criminal side.
Counsel Aftab Alam Yasir argued before the Supreme Court that the dispute was domestic, tied to the marriage rather than official duties, and that behaviour after hours could not amount to misconduct under civil service norms. He also relied on the acquittal and said Abbasi's wife had tried to take her own life, calling the departmental outcome wrong.
Justice Waheed rejected a hard wall between home and office for grave cases. Conduct of enough seriousness after hours may still be treated as misconduct, he affirmed, and a criminal clearance does not erase findings reached separately in a department inquiry.
Government employee conduct rules in this sense protect more than workplace punctuality: they also protect the idea that people who hold state posts must not forfeit public trust through violence or contempt toward those closest to them.
Timeline: what has happened so far
- 14 June 2024: After proceedings under the Civil Servants (Efficiency and Discipline) Rules, 2020, Abbasi is compulsorily retired.
- Afterwards: His departmental appeal is rejected; a lower court acquits him in the criminal matter.
- 15 January: The Federal Service Tribunal upholds the compulsory retirement.
- November 2026: The Supreme Court dismisses his plea and affirms that serious off-duty behaviour can engage service discipline.
Aasan alfaaz mein
Supreme Court ne clear kiya ke sarkari mulazim ka ghar ka rawaya bhi service ke liye mehsoos ho sakta hai agar woh bohot serious ho. Ek IB cook ko biwi ke khilaf ilzaam ke baad naukri se hata diya gaya; us ki appeal maqbool nahi hui. Adalat ke criminal case mein bari hone se department ka alag faisla khud khatam nahi hota. Seedha matlab: sarkari post sirf daftar ka kaam nahi, izzat aur trust bhi us ka hissa hai.
