SHC extends stay on IG’s removal

KARACHI: The Sindh High Court [SHC] extended on Thursday its stay order over the removal of Sindh IG Allah Dino Khawaja, restraining the provincial government from taking any action against him for five more days.

The SHC division bench, headed by Justice Munib Akhtar, put off the matter till May 16 after the plaintiff lawyer, Faisal Siddiqui, completed his arguments to keep Khawaja as the IG of police force in the province.

Siddiqui said 13 police chiefs were posted and subsequently transferred in the province within a short span of time by the Pakistan Peoples Party-led government. This practice of the government should be investigated through a commission, he contended.

Replying to the comments filed by the provincial government through its advocate-general, Zameer Ghumro, he said the respondent had cited upholding of the seniority during the appointment of the police chief but itself had never maintained the same previously. He said that the provincial government had tried to replace Khawaja with a grade-21 officer, Sardar Abdul Majeed Dasti. Technically, Dasti was junior to another similar scale officer, Ghulam Qadir Thebo, who currently serves as the Anti-Corruption Establishment chairperson, the lawyer remarked.

He said the IGs were mostly posted in the province on the basis of own pay scale and not on the basis of seniority. Interestingly, the provincial government has referred the matter of merit but only in this case, he added.

The petition has been filed by a group of civil rights campaigners, including Pakistan Institute of Labour Education and Research Executive Director Karamat Ali and singer Shahzad Roy, against the provincial government over its attempt to remove Khawaja from the post of police chief. It was filed in December last year when Khawaja was sent on forced leave by the government.

Later in March, when the Sindh government finally issued a notification surrendering services of Khawaja back to the federal government, the petitioners approached the SHC, seeking initiation of contempt proceedings against the authorities.

On April 6, the SHC bench had passed an interim order, directing Khawaja to continue his duty as the provincial police chief. Since then, it is being extended by the court.

Source: The Express Tribune