Over 500 cops to be punished, court told

Inquiry under way against police officials unfit for field postings

KARACHI: The Supreme Court (SC) granted on Monday more time to the committee to complete its inquiry against police officers with patchy records.

A three-judge bench, headed by Justice Amir Hani Muslim, was hearing a case regarding action taken against personnel enjoying field postings despite having a patchy service record.

The bench, which also included Justices Mushir Alam and Khilji Arif Hussain, was hearing the case at the SC's Karachi Registry.

At the outset, the police authorities requested for more time to complete the inquiry. Allowing the request, the judges granted more time for completion of the inquiry and sought a report in the court for its perusal.

A report was also filed on behalf of Sindh IG AD Khawaja, who said the committee constituted by the SC on February 27, 2015, had held various meetings and subsequent proper recommendations against each cop having a patchy record are being prepared.

The report stated that the inquiry committee had received the service record of 109,320 personnel, adding that the record of 12,361 personnel with suspicion of having a patchy record was scrutinised.

The committee recommended 514 officials for punishment due to their patchy service record, while 823 officials were cleared from suspicion.

The committee's report stated that 1,337 officials were called for personal hearing and finalised with recommendations so far.

Furthermore, the decisions of the committee have been conveyed to the Karachi Additional IG for taking appropriate action against the responsible officials after fulfillment of all formalities.

Giving details of actions taken against officials with a patchy service record, the report revealed that eight officials have been dismissed from service, 56 given compulsory retirement and 202 declared unfit for field posting and shifted to the police headquarters. One official voluntarily retired from service, it added.

Furthermore, it stated that disciplinary action against the remaining police officials recommended by the committee is being taken and the results will be communicated to the court.

The advocate-general informed the court that further scrutiny is under way and will be placed before the court and therefore, requested for further time.

Computerisation of record under way

Separately, the court was informed that the computerisation of service record could not be completed due to lack of funds. A proposal for provision of Rs210 million was sent to the government on November 10, 2015 and the same was re-submitted, as desired, in the shape of a PC-I on February 11, 2016 and subsequently a reminder was also sent on August 17 this year, it was informed further. Approval from the planning and development department is now awaited, the report added.

However, in order to initiate the process, the Sindh police chief requested the chief secretary on June 29 this year to take up the matter with the Punjab government for providing technical assistance. The Punjab government approved the request and a team of experts from the Punjab IT Board visited the Sindh police. The board has agreed to extend its full support for the successful implementation of the software in Sindh. For this purpose, as per directives of the IG, remote access of two servers has been given to the Punjab IT Board for installation and customisation of the human resource and crime record system in Sindh, the report said.

It stated that the software will be implemented in the first phase on a priority basis and the customisation of the software is in progress.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 23^rd, 2016.