Matter of jurisdiction: IGP issued contempt of court notice

Petitioners request ASIs be recruited by police, not Public Service Commission

PESHAWAR:

A division bench of Peshawar High Court issued a contempt of court notice to Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Inspector General of Police Nasir Khan Durrani and sought a reply from him for not complying with court orders.

Afrasiab and others filed a petition through their attorney Saadullah Khan. Saadullah told Justice Waqar Ahmad Seth and Justice Musarrat Hilali that a month ago the court had ordered the police department to directly recruit assistant sub inspectors (ASI), instead of going through the Public Service Commission (PSC).



Saadullah added the PSC has the authority to recruit officers of grade-11 and above, but not ASIs who are grade-9 employees. However, he said, in spite of the court’s order, recruitments on the post were being made through the PSC, in violation of court orders.

After hearing the arguments, the bench issued an order to the IGP, ordering him to file a reply for the non-compliance of court orders.

Recruitment tests

In another case, the same bench ordered the police department to allow a written examination for candidates who applied for the posts of inspectors and sub inspectors. The bench also sought a reply from the chairperson of the PSC, on a petition filed by Imran Khan and others.

Advocates Akbar Khalil and Amirzeb Mughal told the bench the department had advertised around 326 vacancies for the posts of inspectors and sub inspectors who were to be recruited by the PSC.

They said the petitioner along with others had passed the physical tests, but after that, the PSC conducted an ‘ability test’ which was not mentioned in the advertisement – many candidates failed.

Khalil and Mughal added the test was illegal and aimed to recruit candidates on the basis of favouritism. Therefore, they requested the court to allow the petitioners to appear for a written test. The bench accepted the request and ordered PSC to allow the petitioners to sit the test.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 9^th,  2016.