SC suspends transfer order of former Lahore CCPO

Ghulam Mehmood Dogar reinstated as Lahore CCPO

ISLAMABAD:

The Supreme Court on Friday suspended the order to transfer former Lahore Capital City Police Officer (CCPO) Ghulam Mehmood Dogar and reinstated him as the Lahore CCPO.

A three-member bench headed by Justice Ijaz-ul-Ahsan heard the case related to Dogar's transfer.

Last month, the Punjab caretaker chief minister appointed Bilal Siddique Kamyana as the Lahore CCPO and ordered the transfer of 'PTI’s blue-eyed officer' Dogar.

Senior police officer Kamyana is praised by the PML-N but dreaded by the PTI for crushing its long march to Islamabad in May last year.

Referring to the order for Dogar's transfer, the court said that the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) had given verbal approval to a verbal request.

"The power to order transfers belongs to the election commission, not the chief election commissioner (CEC)," the court said, adding that the ECP did not delegate its powers in writing to the CEC.

"Who called the chief election commissioner and requested the transfer?" Justice Muneeb Akhtar questioned.

Read Punjab caretaker CM removes ‘PTI’s blue-eyed’ Lahore CCPO

The individual should have been told to be patient as the ECP will make the decision on the application, he added.

Justice Muneeb further questioned how the CEC himself was making decisions on behalf of the entire electoral body.

Moreover, the apex court rejected the ECP's request for more time to submit records on transfer postings.

"The clock is ticking, tick, tick, tick," Justice Muneeb remarked. "Ninety days are about to expire and the election commission is asking for more time," he added, referring to the dissolution of the Punjab Assembly as the Constitution stipulates holding elections within 90 days after a dissolution of an assembly.

Justice Ijaz-ul-Ahsan noted that it is the commission's job to conduct transparent elections and "they are even asking for more time for that".

Meanwhile, the Islamabad High Court Bar Association's (IHCBA) request to issue an order on the petition for elections in Punjab was also rejected.

"Before us is only the transfer case of the Lahore CCPO," Justice Ahsan said, adding that the issue of the delay in elections in Punjab has already been referred to the chief justice of Pakistan.