PHC quashes constable's appointment as DSP

Terms temporary posting illegal, says it violates Police Act

PESHAWAR:

The Peshawar High Court (PHC) has declared illegal and set aside the appointment of a Grade-7 police constable as acting Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) in Anbar, Mohmand district of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa.

A two-member bench comprising Justice Syed Arshad Ali and Justice Inamullah Khan announced the decision after hearing a writ petition. Advocate Fazal Shah Mohmand represented the petitioners.

The court held that temporary or acting charge appointments of this nature have no legal justification and constitute a serious violation of established rules and the principle of merit. It observed that posting junior officers to higher positions creates a sense of deprivation among competent and senior officers and infringes upon their legal rights. The executive authority's discretionary power is not unlimited or unbridled; it must remain transparent, regulated and subordinate to the public interest.

According to the judgment, Constable Ayaz Khan, who belonged to the former Khasadar Force of Mohmand district, was inducted into the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Police Force as a constable under a provincial government notification dated February 11, 2020. Through a controversial notification issued on September 15, 2025, he was appointed acting DSP Anbar.

Petitioners Islam Shah and three others had challenged the appointment in the court. The court noted that under Section 29 of the Police Act 2017, clear legal criteria and eligibility requirements exist for appointment to the post of DSP. Twenty-five per cent of DSP posts are filled through competitive examinations from graduate inspectors, while the remaining 75 per cent are filled from among inspectors on the recommendation of a departmental committee.

Ayaz Khan does not meet the eligibility criteria prescribed by law for the post of DSP. Despite this, he was arbitrarily given acting charge and posted to the higher position. The court observed that such temporary or acting appointments have no sanction in law and amount to a grave breach of rules and merit. It referred to several judgments of the Supreme Court and high courts on the subject.