SHC extends stay order till May 23

AG says Centre should take the matter to CCI if not satisfied with amendments made by Sindh govt in police laws

The Sindh High Court (SHC) on Thursday extended for five days its stay order against the transfer of Sindh IGP AD Khowaja, who offered to voluntarily step down “in the interest of the police and public order” a day earlier.

Headed by Justice Munib Akhtar, the high court extended the interim stay order against the provincial police chief’s transfer until further orders and adjourned the hearing until May 23. In his arguments, Sindh Attorney General (AG) Zameer Ghumro said the authority to appoint the IGP Sindh exclusively rested with the Sindh government.

He said provinces were authorised to amend the Police Act as per the Constitution and if the Centre was not satisfied with a law passed by the province, the federal government should take the matter to the Council of Common Interest.

Challenging the jurisdiction of the court to hear the case, he said the case should be heard by the Supreme Court instead of the high court.

The court questioned the AG Sindh about the course of action to be taken if a person was affected by a law passed by the province. A day earlier, AD Khowaja requested the SHC to vacate its interim order about his transfer because he had decided to voluntarily step down in the interest of the police and public order.

The court was hearing the petition of Karamat Ali and other rights activists and NGOs against the repeal of the Police Order 2002, purportedly through the Sindh (Repeal of the Police Order 2002 & Revival of the Police Act 1861) Act 2011, lack of implementation of the Police Order 2002 and the “illegal” action of the Sindh government with regard to the transfer of provincial police chief Khowaja.

Filing his comments on the petition, Khowaja said the uncertainty over the IGP’s appointment was increasingly telling on the morale and efficiency of the police, as the ranks and officers were showing the strains of having to adjust with his episodic removal and reinstatement in the highly challenging times when the country was waging wars against multiple threats emanating from internal and external sources.

He said the ongoing controversy with regard to his appointment could be brought to an end so that a full-time police chief could restore the flagging morale of the force and strengthen the public’s confidence in the department. He requested the court to allow him to approach the federal government to recall his services from Sindh so that the competent authorities could resolve the issue.

Court holidays

The SHC’s Karachi and Sukkur benches, as well as circuit courts at Hyderabad and Larkana, will remain closed for civil business on account of summer vacations from June 5. 

A statement said that August 5 and 6 being a holiday, the courts would reopen on August 7. During the period of vacations, petitions will be received daily on working days and all such petitions, as well as other miscellaneous petitions, which cannot be disposed of during the vacations will be heard on the first day after vacations.