Govt comments sought on petition to raise cops’ salaries

Karachi
The Sindh High Court on Monday issued notices to Chief Secretary Sajjad Saleem Hotiana, secretaries of home and finance departments and Sindh IGP among others on a petition seeking increase in salaries, merit-based promotions and appointments in the Sindh Police.
Petitioner Rana Faiz-ul-Hasan submitted in the petition that the government was doing nothing for the welfare of policemen who were sacrificing their lives for maintaining law and order in the province.
He stated that as many as 181 policemen were martyred during 2014 but the government did nothing for the betterment of bereaved families.
He said low-ranking officials were given hectic tasks to deal with terrorism and other crime mafias and this was why their salaries should be increased like their counterparts in Punjab.
The petitioner also said that promotions in the police force were not given on time due to which thousands of posts were lying vacant while favourites were given with postings against huge bribes.
He alleged that officers were given promotions on the recommendations of the ministers and advisers against hefty bribes and by ignoring merit of officials.
He said 500 posts of sub-inspectors were lying vacant in the Sindh Police because junior officers were not being promoted for the past 15 to 20 years. He claimed that these posts had deliberately been kept vacant and only officers who could pay Rs1 million as bribes were promoted to the post of Inspector.
He said a number of experienced and eligible officials on the rank of ASI were available and deserved to be promoted to the post of Inspector, but they were not being elevated to next grades to victimise them for not obeying illegal orders of their superior.
Referring to a stay order issued by the Sindh Service Tribunal, the petitioner said the tribunal had also stayed the promotions of 145 blued-eyed Inspectors to the rank of DSPs, since 98 of them were involved in heinous crimes. He said competent and deserving officials should be given their due right of promotion to next grades. For this purpose, he said, a committee headed by an honest police officer, should be constituted to consider the cases of promotions strictly on the basis of merit.
He requested the court to direct the authorities concerned for implementing the summary regarding increase in the salaries of policemen in all departments, units and cells without any discrimination and called for the formation of a committee for the promotion of 500 vacant posts of Inspector on the basis of merit.
The SHC division bench headed by Justice Mohammad Ali Mazhar, after preliminary hearing of the petition, issued notices to the Sindh attorney general, chief, finance and home secretaries to file their comments on February 16.