File photo of the Sindh High Court.
The acting prison police chief’s order to withdraw the additional charge of the deputy inspector general as the prison superintendent was suspended by the Sindh High Court on Tuesday.
According to the police superintendent, Pir Shabbir Jan Sarhandi, since he was the most senior official, he was given an additional charge of DIG Prisons by the chief secretary and posted at Sukkur prison on February 8, 2013.
The acting IG Prisons Captain (retd) Ashiq Ali Memon, however, issued an order to withdraw the additional charge. “The acting IG has issued this order although he is not the competent authority or legally authorised to do so,” argued the officer. “It is only the chief secretary who can pass orders in respect of officers up to the rank of superintendent.”
Sarhandi, a BPS-19 officer, maintained he deserved the charge as he was the most senior official in the department and was assigned the task of maintaining order in the Hyderabad prison, where suspects of high-profile offences are kept.
He pleaded the court suspend the acting IG’s order and also restrain the officials from issuing notification on the basis of police chief’s order. The bench headed by Justice Sajjad Ali Shah, issued notice to the provincial additional chief secretary, home secretary, acting IG Prisons and others to file their comments by March 20. The order of the acting IG’s order was suspended to the next date.
Published in The Express Tribune, March 13th, 2013.
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