Illegal appointments case: Sindh IG wants Supreme Court to review its order

Apex court had ordered a committee to probe the hirings

KARACHI: Sindh IG Ghulam Hyder Jamali has requested the Supreme Court (SC) to review its order of forming a three-member committee to probe the alleged illegal appointments in the Sindh Reserve Police.

While hearing a suo motu case based on media reports regarding illegal recruitment of assistant sub-inspectors, the apex court had also ordered the establishment division secretary to issue show-cause notices to the members of the selection committee, which comprised IG Jamali, and had made appointments in alleged violation of the law.

Filing a review petition with the apex court's Karachi registry branch on Friday, the top cop argued that the November 23 order suffered from errors of law and fact, hence sufficient cause to seek a review of the order.

He contended that the order is devoid of proper reasons and deserves to be set at naught on this score alone. Jamali objected that the Constitution does not assign SC judges the role of carrying out investigation into factual or legal aspects of matters, which are to be eventually resolved or decided in a court of competent jurisdiction.

"A judge cannot sit over the propriety or impropriety of appointments made in the police department merely on unfounded suspicions or on bald allegations leveled in a press report," he stated. "Such role is exclusively and solely assigned only in matters of illegal appointments resulting from corruption or corrupt practices either to the relevant investigating or inquiring agencies of the government or the court of competent jurisdiction carrying out the trial of such matters failing in their domain with reference to territorial, pecuniary or subject matter-related limitations provided by the relevant legal instruments or statutes," he added.

The petitioner claimed that the SC had erroneously held in its order that the report furnished by the Traffic AIG was dissatisfactory and that too without advancing a single reason against any specific finding in the report. This finding is errorneous as the AIG report ought to have been accepted unless there was evidence that he indulged in corruption, said Jamali. He argued that only the high court had the mandate to ensure compliance of its lawful orders and the SHC Sukkur bench had not passed any order regarding the non-compliance of its order.

Jamali maintained that in the suo motu exercise of jurisdiction under article 184(3) of the Constitution, it has been stated that the SC is entitled to use its inquisitorial powers but these are to be exercised sparingly. Even if the SC has to exercise this extraordinary power, the legal or factual questions are to be left for the decision of the competent court or forum, the petitioner alleged.

IG Jamali said that police departments all over the country deal with millions of persons and, as an institution, he felt that the image of the Sindh police or the sanctity of its reputation is sacred in the same manner in which the judges feel about their own image. "This unequal application of the law in itself should provide sufficient cause and jurisdiction to the petitioner to seek review of the order," he added, pleading to the court to allow the petition.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 30^th,  2016.