SHC allows Khawaja to continue as IG till April 11

Bars Dasti from holding police chief post till then

KARACHI: The Sindh High Court (SHC) on Thursday extended its restraining order against the removal of Sindh police chief till 11^th, rendering useless for the time being the Sindh government’s third attempt to oust A D Khawaja.

A two-judge bench, headed by Justice Munib Akhtar, while extending its order, barred Abdul Majeed Dasti from holding the additional IG post till the next date of hearing.

The bench was hearing a petition jointly filed by non-profit organisations, including the Pakistan Institute of Labour Education and Research, the Urban Resource Centre and others, who had approached the court against the likely removal of A D Khawaja from the IG’s post in December last year and reforms in the policing system in the province.

On the last hearing, the court had restrained AIG Dasti from continuing with additional charge of the provincial police chief and directed Khawaja to immediately assume the charge. It had also sought provincial government’s reply as to whether the decision to remove A D Khawaja from the IG’s post despite interim order passed by the court was taken by the provincial cabinet.

During Thursday’s proceedings, the provincial advocate-general Barrister Zamir Ghumro filed an affidavit sworn by the provincial services secretary and general administration department in the contempt of court’s order.



Ghumro informed the court that the provincial cabinet had met on Wednesday in view of the observations made by the court in its previous order. The cabinet has given sanction to the order of surrendering A D Khawaja’s services to Islamabad and the notification of giving the additional charge of the IG’s post to Dasti.

In his affidavit, secretary Sajid Jamal Abro insisted that he had not committed contempt of court in the order dated December 16, 2016 by surrendering services of IG AD Khawaja to the federal government.

He argued that since Khawaja was working in own pay scale, therefore, his services were handed over to the Centre. He reiterated that no contempt of court’s order was committed.

Abro maintained that the provincial government was implementing the judgment given by the Supreme Court (SC) in the famous Anita Turab case, wherein the apex court had ruled that the public servants must complete three-year tenure on the given post, in letter and spirit.

In his arguments, petitioners’ lawyer Faisal Siddiqui said the point under discussion at the moment is that whether or not the provincial government’s decision to repeal the Police Order 2002 and promulgate the Police Act 1861 is in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution.

He argued with the bench that except the federal and provincial legislative lists there were also other connected legislative lists in the Constitution, according to which legislation regarding any police force falls within the domain of the federal government.

Siddiqui said linked legislative lists of the interim constitutions of 1935, 1956 and 1962 also included legislation on criminal matters.

He said in the fourth schedule of the 1973 Constitution, legislation regarding the police falls within the domain of the federal government, while other matters fall within the provincial government’s domain. Since police is an all-Pakistan service therefore the legislation relating to the police is a federal subject, he added.

He argued it was the constitutional duty of the federal government to take steps to save the provinces from internal or external threats to law and order and peace.

However, the Centre was duty-bound to assign such responsibility to any province or provinces, he added.

Siddiqui contended that the Punjab province had not repealed the Police Order 2002 but had improved it by making necessary amendments.

Justice Akhtar asked as to how could any province do legislation on federal subject.

The petitioners’ lawyer replied that the Sindh Assembly had repealed the Police Order 2002 outright and revived the Police Act, 1861. He cited the example of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa where the government had also repealed the police order recently by making a new law.

The bench members remarked that since the police order was promulgated by the regime of general (retd) Pervez Musharraf, therefore, the law would have become illegal on the very first day of its enforcement.

Siddiqui said the Police Order 2002 was granted protection under Article 270 of the Constitution.

The bench adjourned the matter till April 11 for further arguments from Siddiqui.