Sindh govt removes over 350 officials on SHC orders

KARACHI: Following the Sindh High Court’s verbal orders, the provincial government has removed 350 plus officials of different grades from different departments. Six grade 19 officers had opted for Voluntary Return (VR) under Section 25 of the National Accountability Ordinance.   The SHC division bench comprised Chief Justice of Sindh High Court Justice Ahmed Ali Sheikh and Justice K K Agha.

The bench directed the provincial government on Thursday to remove all other officers from their positions who had opted for the VR and submit a comprehensive report on October 24.

According to official notifications, copies available with The News, 350 plus officers from the Sindh Education department, Local Government department and six officers of grade 19 were removed and asked to report to their respective departments. 

The six officers include Conservator Forests Ghulam Qadir Shah, Syed Zahid Hussain Shah of Public Health department, Manzoor Abbasi of Local Government department, Imtiaz Hussain Memon of Irrigation department, Habib Rehman of Works and Services department, Azizullah Odho of School Education department and Saffar Kachiar of School Education department.

According to official documents submitted to the court, some 120 officers of upper grades, 10 high-profile politicians and 398 officials of different provincial government departments were proven guilty of corruption and opted for VR. They also deposited above Rs2 billion.

Despite clear directions of the Supreme Court for taking action against these officers who had opted for VR, the Sindh government imposed minor and major penalties on them but some officers managed to save their skin and are continuing at important positions.  However, some of officers who deposited less than 2.5 million rupees got a stay order from the Supreme Court preventing action or removal from the positions.