Punjab given 30 days to form Public Safety Commissions

Lahore: Lahore High Court Chief Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah on Wednesday granted 30 days to Punjab government to set up Public Safety Commissions at the provincial as well as the district level in line with Police Order 2002.

The chief justice was hearing a petition against appointment of Usman Khattak as acting inspector general of Punjab police and implementation of Police Order 2002. The chief justice had already suspended the notification of appointment of acting inspector-general of police, Punjab, Usman Khattak, as permanent police chief of the province.

During the hearing on Wednesday, the Punjab government's lawyer informed the court that Captain (R) Arif Nawaz had been appointed as a permanent IG for a period of three years. The chief justice asked about setting up of the safety commissions. The government sought time for constitution of the commissions. A citizen, Abdul Razzaq, filed the petition through his counsel Saad Rasool. The counsel argued that a petition for implementation of Police Order 2002 was pending adjudication before the court and the government appointed AIG for a period of three months which was violation of the law. He submitted that the LHC in many cases had set aside appointments of acting heads of different government institutions.

He said that appointments of IGs and CCPOs should be made on the recommendations of the duly constituted National Public Safety Commission. He alleged that the commission had never been properly constituted since the promulgation of Police Order in 2002. He pointed out that the Police Order also envisaged that IGPs, CCPOs or DPOs must not be transferred before the expiry of their three-year term and in case transfer was to be made before three years, the same would be done by the commission. He said that four IGs had been transferred since 2013 with average tenure of nine months and eight CCPOs had been transferred in Lahore alone during the last three years.

Earlier, a provincial government law officer had informed that the Police Order 2002 had been amended recently eliminating the role of National Public Safety Commission in the appointment of IG. He had said that the provincial government would now appoint the IG from among a panel of three eligible police officers recommended by the federal government.