Home secy, others put on notice on plea against appointment of IG prisons

The Sindh High Court (SHC) has issued notices to the provincial home secretary and others on a petition against the appointment of Sindh inspector general of prisons (IG prisons).

The petitioner, Ejaz Ali, had submitted that the Sindh government appointed Syed Munawar Ali Shah, who was working as the DIG prisons and correction service in Sukkur, as the IG prisons in violation of the rules.

The petitioner’s counsel submitted that the appointment of the IG prisons was not made as per the law as the chief minister was not the competent authority but the provincial government was, and there had been no correspondence that the appointment was approved by the provincial cabinet.

He submitted that the respondent was not competent to fulfil the criteria for the appointment of IG prisons as notified by the home department in terms of requisite experience and qualification.

He submitted that the impugned appointment of the IG prisons spoke volumes about cronyism in key appointments.

The counsel submitted that the competent authority was required to consider merit and fitness of all the eligible candidates while putting them in juxtaposition to find out the most meritorious amongst them.

The SHC was requested to declare the appointment of the Sukkur DIG prisons as the IG prisons as unlawful and direct the government to appoint a competent senior officer as the IG prisons after following the due process of the law and abiding by the criteria and qualification for appointment against the post.

The petitioner also filed an application seeking grant of stay against the impugned notification with regard to the appointment of the IG prisons.

A division bench of the SHC headed by Acting Chief Justice Aqeel Ahmed Abbasi after the preliminary hearing of the petition issued notices to the home secretary and others, and called their comments on November 24.