SC orders action against 10 senior cops with patchy records

Report recommends action be taken against 352 others for their service records

KARACHI: The Supreme Court (SC) directed on Friday the secretary of the establishment division to take action, in accordance with the law, against 10 senior officers of the Sindh police who allegedly had patchy service records.

A three-judge bench, headed by Justice Mushir Alam, also directed the federal secretary to complete such action within four weeks and submit a compliance report.

The apex court's bench, that also comprised justices Maqbool Baqar and Sajjad Ali Shah, passed this direction at the SC's Karachi Registry while hearing a case relating to inaction against the police officials and officers who were enjoying field postings allegedly without any departmental action despite having patchy service records.

On Thursday, the apex court directed the provincial chief secretary to present the report by July 28, showing action against police officers working in grade-17 and above.



The apex court had observed that action was only being taken against the junior officials or officers but no action was taken against the seniors following province-wide scrutiny of the police personnel by a committee appointed by the SC.

During Friday's proceedings, the advocate-general, Barrister Zamir Ghumro, filed a report on behalf of the chief secretary. The bench was informed that action had been initiated against 10 police officers working in grade-17 and above.

Justice Baqar enquired from the law officer why action was taken against only 10 officers. "Are other officers innocent?" he asked.

Ghumro argued that there were usually fewer senior officers in the province, and said that the role of the senior officers remains of monitoring the personnel under their command in the concerned units or departments.

The apex court bench directed the secretary of the establishment division to take action against the said 10 police officers who had patchy service records. It further directed that such action should be completed within four weeks and a compliance report be submitted to the court for its perusal.



Case history

On the last hearing, Additional IG Sanaullah Abbasi, the head of the committee appointed by the SC to scrutinise the service records of the policemen, had presented an interim report.

He had informed the bench that the committee had scrutinised the service records of 109,320 personnel so far. The report stated that 12,361 personnel were scrutinised over suspicion of having patchy records.

He had informed the court that 352 police officials were recommended punishment for their patchy service records, while 1,182 were cleared of the suspicion of having patchy records. According to the AIG, 1,534 were summoned for personal hearings.

The AIG had told the court that on recommendation of the committee, the competent authority had taken action against the personnel with patchy records after fulfilling codal formalities, such as issuing them show-cause notices and giving them a second opportunity to defend themselves. So far, 17 officials have been dismissed from service, 122 sent on compulsory retirement while 11 officials opted for voluntary retirement.



The figures led Justice Alam to believe that law and order situation was not improving because more than 12,000 policemen were involved in criminal activities.

The bench directed the chief secretary to appear in court along with a report, clearly showing what action the government had taken against the senior police officers who had patchy service records. The secretary will submit the report in two days and mention the action against the officers working in grade-17 and above.