Two public prosecutors fight over office

Incumbent refuses to hand over charge, incoming official starts working.

LAHORE: A tug of war between two public prosecutors (DPP) continued for the third day on Saturday at the sessions court while their staff remained perplexed about whose orders they should follow.

The transfer orders had been issued by the former prosecution secretary Rana Maqbool.

A court official, requesting anonymity, told The Express Tribune that the incumbent, Zulfiqar Ali Awan, was not willing to leave while Saeed Ahmed Shaikh, the prosecutor who was recently transferred, claimed to have assumed charge from February 17.

The official said Shaikh, transferred from the anti-terrorism court to the Prosecution Department, had come on Thursday to assume charge. “But Awan flared up and refused to hand over the charge,” he said. They kept on arguing for more than an hour after which Shaikh went and sat in the superintendent’s room.

Talking to The Express Tribune, Awan admitted that he had refused to hand over the office’s charge “and nobody can force me to”. “I do not care where he (Shaikh) sits,” he added. In Awan’s opinion Shaikh is not eligible for the office. Lashing out at Shaikh, he said, “He is not a prosecutor. He didn’t even pass the Public Service Commission (PSC) exam that is mandatory for a prosecutor. Shaikh has been getting through because he is a sycophant!”.  According to Awan two deputy district attorneys Assad Ullah and Javed Iqbal and one deputy district prosecutor (DDP) Rafique Gujjar’s services were terminated after they failed the PSC exams. “Why weren’t Shaikh’s services terminated?” he asked. Awan plans on moving the court against Shaikh. He also objected to Shaikh being posted in Lahore, “He has a Lahore domicile. According to the government’s transfer policy, a person can not work in his home district.”

When contacted, Shaikh dismissed the allegations. “I do not care whether Awan leaves the charge or not and it does not matter which room I am sitting in. I am the DPP and will remain one, no matter what he says,” Shaikh said.

M Asif Chattha, an advocate of the High Court, said that according to the Estacode, an incoming DPP could not assume charge until the incumbent left the office.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 20^th, 2011.