Cabinet to meet today to review police law that governor had rejected

The Sindh cabinet will meet on Monday (today) to reconsider the bill to revive the Police Order 2002 and to abolish the Police Act 1861, as last month Governor Imran Ismail had refused to give his assent to the bill, which was earlier passed by the provincial assembly, after raising several objections to the proposed law.

The cabinet will meet at 9am in the committee room of the new Sindh Secretariat building with Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah in chair. On top of the agenda of the cabinet meeting is the review of the Sindh (Repeal of Police Act 1861 and Revival of Police Order 2002) Bill 2019. The home secretary will brief the cabinet members on this.

Other items on the agenda of the cabinet meeting include the constitution of the Sindh Minimum Wages Board, which will be presented in the meeting by the labour secretary, the constitution of the governing body of the Sindh Employees Social Security Institution, also to be presented by the labour secretary, the conversion/utilisation of amenity plots for mass transit projects undertaken by the provincial government, to be presented by the transport secretary, the Amendment in the Establishment of the Office of the Ombudsman for the Province of Sindh Act 1991, to be presented by the law secretary, and the appointment of administrator in a town committee of District Umerkot, which will be presented by the local government secretary.

It is worth mentioning here that while returning the bill last month, the governor had raised the objections that the newly passed bill was different to a large extent from the original Police Order 2002, and that it also negated several directions of the courts regarding the administration and supervision of the provincial police force.

In this regard, the governor had signed a five-page summary that read that he was returning the bill to the PA for reconsideration. He appreciated the fact that the provincial government wanted to change the 158-year-old Police Act 1861 to introduce reforms in the police force and ensure an independent, accountable and autonomous police without any political interference in its affairs. He, however, lamented that the proposed bill was not achieving these objectives.