Five disgruntled senior police officers challenged the appointment of Shahid Hayat Khan as Karachi’s police chief in the Sindh High Court on Monday. Allah Dino Khawaja, Bashir Memon, Sanaullah Abbasi, Azhar Rashid and Dr Ameer Ahmed Sheikh, who are holding different posts in the Sindh police, questioned the appointment of Khan, a grade-20 officer of the Police Service of Pakistan, as Karachi Range additional inspector general (AIG), a post of grade 21. Khan took over on September 12, a week after the law enforcement agencies launched an operation against criminals in the metropolis. His posting drew criticism from various political parties over his controversial role in the operation in the ‘90s and his involvement in the Murtaza Bhutto murder case. After a controversial encounter in which Bhutto and his seven companions were killed in Clifton on September 20, 1996, Khan, then an ASP, was among several police officials who were booked in an FIR as suspects. He remained behind bars for two years and stood a trial for 13 years before being acquitted in 2009. His posting as city police chief – the fifth in just nine months — has been criticised by security analysts as well, who say frequent transfers expose senior police officials to political interference and render them ineffective. The petitioners said he had been working as DIG Special Branch before his transfer and posting as AIG through a notification issued by the chief secretary. They accused the chief secretary of ignoring senior and experienced police officers of grade 21, as well as more senior and experienced grade-20 officers. The petitioners said they had completed all training courses, including Nipa and Staff College courses, with distinction for promotion to the next grade. According to the complainants, Khan was junior to them inasmuch as he had been promoted to grade 20 only two years ago and assigned seniority at Serial No. 89 on the seniority list of grade-20 officers. They said the new city police chief had yet to pass the Staff College course, a mandatory requirement for promotion to grade 21. They described his posting as a sheer violation of rules and various pronouncements of superior courts, saying that the unlawful practice on the part of the chief secretary and the inspector general of police not only violated the statutory procedures, but also disrupted the entire civil service structure. Their counsel, Zamir Ghumro, said Khan’s appointment against any post, including the that of the AIG in Sindh, was also in violation of an inter-provincial transfer policy as he since his promotion to BPS-20 had not served in any other province or the province of his domicile, which was mandatory for every PSP officer. He contended that the impugned appointment was also ultra vires of Rule 8-B of the Civil Servants (Appointment, Promotion and Transfer) Rules, 1973. He said the chief secretary and the IGP had infringed upon the petitioners’ fundamental rights and their actions were a violation of various articles of the constitution, particularly articles 4, 9 and 25. The counsel said that under the law, the appointment/transfer/posting of a grade-21 police officer had to be made by the chief executive of the province, but in Khan’s case the chief secretary exercised the authority of the chief executive. He asked the court to direct Khan to explain under lawful authority he was working as AIG. The court was also requested to suspend the operation of the September notification till the disposal of the petition.
Posted on: Thu, 03 Oct 2013 07:07:24 +0000
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