Naimat Khan
KARACHI: The Petitioners in Constitution Petition in Sindh High Court for Police Reforms have written a letter to the Federal Secretary of Cabinet Division that the recommendation of the Sindh Government to replace the current Inspector General of Police A.D. Khawaja with Sardar Abdul Majeed Dasti shall not be approved.
In a letter sent through Mr. Faisal Siddiqi, advocate the civil society’s petitioners in the Constitution Petition No. 7097 of 2016 have contended that the recommendation of the Sindh Government for change in IGP is clearly “malafide, illegal and a deliberate attempt” to subvert the Judgment dated: 07-09-2017 passed by the Honourable Sindh High Court.
“We are not aware about whether the malafide decision/recommendation of the Sindh Government has been conveyed to you or not. However, we are making a representation on behalf of the Civil Society Persons, firstly because they were the Petitioners in the Constitution Petition wherein the Sindh Court passed the Judgment dated: 07-09-2017 pursuant to which everything is happening. Secondly, the Civil Society persons being the representatives in the abovementioned Constitution Petitions would be affected by any decision that is passed by the Federal Government on the malafide recommendation of the Sindh Government,” the letter stated.
The letter has pointed out that the provincial government has majorly based its recommendation for appointment of Mr. Dasti on the reason that Mr. A. D. Khowaja, has been appointed on OPS (own-pay-scale) basis and that the Honourable Supreme Court of Pakistan, through Order dated: 09-05-2014 passed in CPLA No.108-K of 2014, has issued directions that all officers’ posted on OPS basis should be returned to their substantive posts. The aforementioned basis of the recommendation is clearly malafide and illegal for many reasons.
Elucidating the reasons, the letter has mentioned that Mr. A.D. Khowaja was appointed on 12-03-2016 on OPS basis by the Sindh Government itself. They referred to Para 72 of the Judgment dated: 07-09-2017 that: “We are not unmindful of the point raised by the learned counsel for the Petitioners that the Respondent No.7 was appointed on OPS basis by and/or with the concurrence of the Provincial Government, and it does not therefore now lie with it to argue to the contrary.”
Moreover, the letter stated: Sindh Government has failed to provide any record of the aforementioned proceedings before the court, including but not limited to the aforementioned Order dated: 09-05-2014, therefore, the applicability of the aforementioned Order dated: 09-05-2014 to the factual and legal position of the current controversy cannot be ascertained.
The letter further mentioned that the Sindh Government has also based its recommendation on the reason that a BPS-22 Grade Officer, namely Mr. Sardar Abdul Majeed Dasti, is available so the position of the IG in Sindh should be occupied by such Officer. The petitioners argued that this reasoning is a repeat of the Notification dated: 01-04-2017 through which the Sindh Government had earlier removed Mr. A.D. Khowaja with Mr. Sardar Abdul Majeed Dasti as Inspector General of Sindh Police and this very Notification was quashed by the Sindh High Court in Para 101(g) of the Judgment dated: 07-09-2017. Therefore, this is also a malafide reasoning given to subvert the Judgment dated: 07-09-2017 passed by the Sindh High Court.
