Pakistan

Apex court asks govt to sack FIA, Sindh police chiefs

Court warns that if contracts of 15 officers are not revoked, the SC will act itself.

Qaiser Zulfiqar February 16, 2011

ISLAMABAD:

The Supreme Court has asked the government to terminate the contracts of 15 officers, including Federal Investigation Authority (FIA) Director-General Waseem Ahmad, IG Sindh Salahuddin Babar Khattak, three federal secretaries and one additional secretary by Thursday.

If the government fails to withdraw the notification for their re-appointment, the court will nullify it, warned a seven-member bench of the apex court headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, while hearing a suo motu case on the Hajj scam. The court expressed dissatisfaction over the FIA’s progress and directed the agency to submit a daily investigation report.

The federation’s counsel, Abdul Hafeez Pirzada requested the court to divorce the Hajj scam from the case of contract officers.

“No progress is being made in the investigation of the Hajj scam on account of contract officers. The cases may not be separated,” the chief justice observed. “The government is often in conflict with the judiciary.” The reappointment of retired officers has deprived young people of seniority, he said.

“The government should pass a constitutional amendment to give immunity to influential persons,” remarked Justice Khalilur Rehman Ramday. “Civil servants may not be reappointed according to the law. The government had not made any progress on the issue of contract officers over the last one month.” It is regrettable that instead of facilitating the court in eradicating corruption, the government is creating hurdles, he observed.

Pirzada apprised the court that the government had forwarded the contract officers’ cases to the law ministry for a review.

“The chief justice also took exception to the absence of Additional Director Javed Bukhari of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA). Did he apply for leave or was he forced to absent himself?” he asked. He ordered the Attorney General to take notice of the issue.

FIA Legal Affairs Director Azam Khan told the court that Bukhari had taken leave till February 19 for his wife’s surgery. The case was adjourned till Thursday.

The Supreme Court had earlier asked the government to take steps to cancel the contracts of senior officers in the police and the FIA. “Instead of promoting personal favourites, deserving and talented officers should be given a chance,” the Chief Justice had observed during a previous hearing. “Appointments on merit are always in the interest of the government because good officers take effective measures to improve law and order.”

The government had submitted a list of nine senior officers reappointed on contract, including Sindh police chief, FIA Director-General, Sindh Intelligence Bureau (IB) Joint Director General Tariq Jamil, Sindh Traffic Deputy Inspector General Khurram Gulzar, Training DIG Nadir Hussain Khoso and IB Deputy Director General Asghar Mahmood, among others.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 16th, 2011.

COMMENTS (5)

Faizan | 13 years ago | Reply For God sake, there are so many others contracted and corrupted officers who are holding the sensitive positions in the government departments. Take them out of this net who are just giving favors to their mentors. The Anti-corruption Department of Sindh, Intelligence Bureau, Karachi chief, who will identify them??? I request Honoourable CJP to take them to task. Pray for the long awaited justice in Pakistan.

SH | 13 years ago | Reply First things first, why does it appear that the bulk of reappointments are in Sindh?! Is there a dearth of good officers ? Secondly, before the issue is completely politicised the constitution allows the appointment of adhoc judges. Specifically, such appointments can only be given to retired judges, do not affect seniority lists since they are done in excess of the normal sanctioned strength and therefore do not block the promotions of others. This is in direct contrast to reappointments of civil servants which is illegal and, as for example in the case of a DIG traffic, would block the promotion of an SSP to that rank. However, on a separate note, while the point of adhoc judges is to deal with emergency situations or big case loads / backlogs, it does set the wrong precedent suggesting that certain judges are indispensable. Justice Ramday should probably retire respectfully at this time with his dignity intact.