Out of turn : LHC suspends orders of cops’ demotions

Tells IGP to hear them out individually

LAHORE/BAHAWALPUR/SARGODHA: Justice Muhammad Ameer Bhatti of Lahore High Court suspended orders of demotion of 14 police officers on Thursday and directed the Inspector General of Punjab Police to decide their cases after hearing their side of the story.

Justice Bhatti passed the order on petitions filed by SPs Amjad Qureshi, Farooq Handal, Karamatullah and DSPs Rana Islam, Zulfiqar Ali, Riaz Ali Shah, Sarwar Awan, Rashid Kaliar, Nisar Awan, Rashid Fazal, Malik Nawaz, Muhammad Abid, Ashraf Chadhar and Inspector Manzoor Ahmed.

Advocate Talat Farooq Sheikh, representing the petitioners, said the Supreme Court had ordered the government to take back shoulder promotions handed out to several police officers over the last few years. He said his clients did not fall in that category and that they were promoted on merit.

He said the IGP had issued notifications for his clients’ demotion. “He [the IGP] did not even hear them out before issuing the notifications.” He said natural justice required that no one be condemned without being heard out.

He said his clients had served the police for several years and most of them had served more than half of their career length. “Demoting them at this point would impact their entire service.”

Sheikh requested the court to direct the IGP to take back the notification of their demotion. He also requested the court to stop progress on similar notifications till the final disposal of these petitions.

The judge then halted action on the notifications and directed the IGP to decide the matter of petitioners’ demotions after listening to them individually.

The judge also suspended the notifications for their demotion and ordered the IGP not to implement them. The judge also directed the police chief to decide the cases afresh after giving the relevant officers a proper hearing.



Advocate Farooq told The Express Tribune that he would file more petitions on Friday (today) challenging the notifications of demotion of police officers. He said the police chief could not pass arbitrary orders. He said the beneficiaries of the shoulder promotions continued to enjoy the perks and privileges and no one had questioned them. He said his clients were being victimised for “reasons best known to the police high-ups”. He said his clients believed that the court would accord them justice. He said the court had directed the police chief to give the petitioners a chance to explain their position.

Demotions ordered

On orders of the IGP and Multan RPO, Lodhran DPO Asad Sarfraz Khan has prepared a list of policemen who had been promoted out of turn.

According to police officials, the list includes an inspector, six sub inspectors, three assistant sub inspectors and 20 head constables. They have been serving at various police stations in Lodhran district. The inspector is currently serving as an SHO.

The list has been sent to the IGP. Police officials said action will likely be taken after Eidul Fitr. The police officials said this was in connection with an order of the Supreme Court earlier this year. The police were meant to implement it by March however most of the officers facing demotion had petitioned various courts against the order, they said. This had delayed the implementation but were unable to block it entirely, they said.

Bahawalpur DPO Sarfraz Ahmad Falki has issued orders of demotion of 113 police officials who had been earlier promoted out of turn. The 113 cops have been summoned to the Police Lines.

These include Abbas Nagar SHO Ejaz Khan, who has now been demoted to constable from sub inspector. Dera Nawab SHO Rana Safdar has been demoted from sub inspector to constable,  General Bus Stand police check post in charge  Afzal Randhawa has been demoted from sub inspector to constable,  Laal Sohanra police check post in charge  Liaquat has been demoted from sub inspector to constable, Police Lines in charge Abdul Razzaq has been demoted from sub inspector to head constable, Muhammad Ashfaq Goraya has been demoted from sub inspector to constable, Sub Inspector Zafar has been demoted to constable, Sub Inspector Abdul Ali to head constable, Traffic Sub Inspector Mairaj to constable, Sub Inspector Khalid has been demoted to constable, Abdul Waheed has been demoted to constable and Assistant Sub Inspector Khalid Majeed to constable.

Promotions

Sargodha District Police Officer Muhammad Sohail Choudhary on Thursday pinned badges on 11 newly promoted police officers. A ceremony was held at the DPO office in which Sargodha RPO Zulfiqar Hameed issued orders of promotion for 11 head constables to the rank of assistant sub-inspector.

Rana Iftikhar, Liaqat Shah, Muhammad Yousaf, Jaber Hussain, Nazir Ahmad, Tariq Mehmood, Muhammad Akram, Sikandar Hayat, Akram Kalyar, Manzoor Ahmad and Ejaz Butt are the cops who have been promoted.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 1^st, 2016.