Pakistan's Federal Constitutional Court has ruled that the registration of a first information report (FIR) alone cannot disqualify a candidate from government employment, in a judgment that sets six principles for public-sector recruitment. The ruling, announced on 4 November, protects candidates who were later acquitted and says an FIR is only an accusation, not evidence or proof of a crime.

A two-member bench headed by Chief Justice Amin-ud-Din Khan, with Justice Ali Baqar Najafi, allowed the appeal of Abdul Latif, who had secured second position on the recruitment merit list for a driver constable post in the police but was declared ineligible despite his acquittal in a case registered in 2018. The court set aside a Lahore High Court Multan Bench judgment of 22 May 2025 that had dismissed his appeal, and directed the police to restore his candidature in line with his merit position and complete the remaining formalities, including medical fitness, within 30 days of receiving a certified copy of the judgment.

The six principles

The court held that refusing employment to an acquitted candidate breaches Articles 4 and 25 of the Constitution, which protect the right to be treated in accordance with law and equality before the law. Its six principles require recruitment authorities to rely on credible evidence rather than suspicion, to respect judicial acquittals, and not to base negative character assessments on assumptions or unsupported allegations.

References to criminal proceedings must reflect their actual legal status, and an acquitted case must not appear as an adverse entry in a police character certificate, the court said. No candidate may be excluded without first being given an opportunity to be heard. The court observed that treating an FIR as a permanent disqualification would substitute administrative suspicion for a judicial decision.