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ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Thursday granted a fortnight’s time to the federal and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa governments to submit a reply in a case where the appointment of K-P police chief is challenged.
Justice Aamer Farooq granted the time after Additional Attorney General Afnan Karim Kundi and Assistant Advocate General Malik Akhtar Hussain Awan appeared before the court and sought time to submit a reply from their respective governments.
K-P Additional Inspector General of Police Syed Akhter Ali Shah, who temporarily held the charge of acting IG after the retirement of Nasir Durrani, challenged the appointment of K-P IG Salahuddin Khan Mehsud.
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Previously, the court issued notices to the Establishment Division secretary and the newly-appointed K-P police chief over the latter’s appointment because it is said to be in violation of the apex court’s judgment regarding unlawful promotions.
The petitioner, through his counsel Barrister Masroor Shah, approached the IHC against the appointment of Mehsud on the grounds that it was in violation of the Supreme Court’s judgment and the provisions of K-P Police Ordinance, 2016.
Counsel for the petitioner apprised the court that the newly notified IG was selected by the Central Selection Board (CSB) in 2016, whose proceedings were declared null and void by the Supreme Court.
He said it was enunciated in Section 14 of the K-P Police Ordinance, 2016 that no police officer below grade 21 and grade 22 can be appointed as IG while Mehsud is a grade 20 officer.
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“The appointment of the police chief is not only contrary to the law, but also amounts to gross contempt of the judgments of the SC,” he argued.
In the petition, he said, various police officers of grade 20 had challenged the office memorandum (OM) for being unconstitutional, ultra vires and repugnant to the rules of justice.
On July 27, 2015, a single bench of the IHC stated, “The entire process carried out by the CSB on the basis of formula introduced through the policy of 2012 resulting into deferments/supersession of petitioners is declared as illegal, without jurisdiction, in violation of law laid down by the superior courts and offensive to the accrued valuable rights of civil servants.”
While the federation’s appeals, he maintained, were pending before the apex court, the federation purportedly conducted a meeting of the CSB using the same controversial formula (impugned OM), which had already been rendered unconstitutional and ultra vires by the IHC.
The SC has recently dismissed the federation’s appeal giving finality to the order of the IHC.
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Now, instead of implementing the IHC’s judgment after it has been granted the seal of approval by the apex court, he said, the establishment secretary “is adamant to continue pampering its blue-eyed civil servants”.
“Respondents’ impugned act is unlawful, unconstitutional, void ab initio and contrary to ‘ratio decidendi’ enunciated by the SC and IHC without any legal effect whatsoever.”
He prayed the court to direct the establishment secretary to appoint K-P police chief strictly in accordance with the law and the relevant rules.
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