What makes new Punjab IGP unfit for the job?

ISLAMABAD: After a few days halt caused by the Election Commission’s intervention, the Punjab police Monday gets its new chief Amjad Javed Saleemi replacing Tahir Khan but in this process of change of guard, two striking violations of court orders have taken place.

Sources in the bureaucracy say that the first violation is concerning the pre-mature transfer of Tahir Khan, who was appointed Punjab IGP hardly over a month back. The second violation, it is said, relates to the new IGP Amjad Javed Saleemi whose retirement date is too early to meet the minimum length of service set by the courts for the provincial police chief.

The normal tenure of an IGP is three years. The Sindh High Court in AD Khawaja case had ruled that “an officer who can serve for the full tenure (three years) must be selected (as IGP).” The SHC added, “Two specific points may be made here. Firstly, the officers in the available pool may be such that the more senior officers may not be able to complete the tenure before retirement, and therefore a rigid adherence to what has just been said may work to the professional disadvantage of such officers.

“Such a situation may therefore amount to an exceptional circumstance, in which a more senior officer may be appointed even though he would not be able to complete the term before retirement. But this can only be done if the officer is able to serve not less than three quarters of the term.”

The SHC decision thus set the rule that a police officer could not be appointed as provincial police chief by the federal government if his remaining service is less than three quarters of the three-year term.

The new Punjab IGP Saleemi retirement date is January 31, 2020, which means that he has far less length of service remaining as per the SHC order to be appointed against the position of provincial police chief.

Regarding the officer to be appointed as IGP, the SHC in its verdict had said, “The officer must meet the federal requirements of the PSP, including the 1985 PSP Rules and any other rules and regulations. What must also be ensured is that the requirements of provincial law as regards appointment are adhered to, and in particular if the post has a term or tenure that must be also followed and applied.

The SHC added that at the same time the law laid down from time to time in Supreme Court and other, bindingly applicable, decisions must also be adhered to. “This means, inter alia, that an officer who can serve for the full tenure must be selected.”

It is interesting to note that even the LHC in 2017 suspended a notification for the appointment of Punjab’s acting inspector-general of police Capt (R) Usman Khattak because the officer had just three months and a few days left in his tenure.

The court had said that under the law, the employment of Punjab IG should last three years and the provincial government prime facie had committed contempt of court by appointing a permanent IG who is due to retire in three months.

Even otherwise, the premature transfer of former Punjab IGP Muhammad Tahir Khan just over a month of his appointment, is violation of SC’s verdict in Anita Turab case. Khan was appointed the Punjab IG early last month by the PTI government. Information Minister Chaudhry Fawad Hussain is reported to have said that the IGP was transferred because he was not implementing the government directions.

However, removing an officer without completion of tenure is a violation of the Supreme Court’s ruling in Anita Turab case. The SC gives protection to the tenure of civil servants and in case of pre-mature transfer makes it mandatory for the competent authority to write reasons which are subject to review by the courts.