You can’t hold a proper inquiry with just Rs829, SC tells IGP

Karachi
The Supreme Court on Friday expressed its displeasure at the working of the Sindh police, especially the investigation department, and summoned the chief secretary to explain why funds were not provided to investigation officers.
A three-member bench headed by Amir Hani Muslim was hearing a case about the withholding of the investigation wing’s funds by the inspector general of police (IGP).
It expressed dissatisfaction with a report submitted by the provincial police chief on the disbursement of funds to the investigation department, as well as on its budgetary allocations and expenditures across the province.
The bench observed that the required details were provided neither by the finance department nor by the IGP. It said no sufficient funds were being provided to the investigation wing that resulted in ineffective inquiries.
After perusal of the report, the apex court pointed out that Rs5 million was disbursed to the Hyderabad district police, who, according to the IGP, registered 3,616 cases from July 2014 to 2015. It observed that investigation expenses totalled Rs829.64 per case per investigation officer, and if this was the amount disbursed to the inquiry officer, the officer could not investigate the matter properly.
To court query regarding the allocation of funds for the investigation police, Finance Secretary Mohammad Sohail Rajput submitted that the police had requested for Rs316 million to meet the costs of the investigations, of which they were paid Rs140 million, and an supplementary budget of Rs75 million was also released in April 2015.
The court was informed that of that amount, the police could not utilise Rs12 million.
When the court inquired IGP Ghulam Hyder Jamali as to why the amount was not utilised, he failed to explain. It observed that corruption in the police department had increased three times since Jamali assumed his post.
It took exception to the non-allocation of funds to the investigation department, and observed that the Sindh police were interested in purchasing armored personnel carriers, but it had no concern for the disbursement of inquiry funds and family members of slain policemen. The bench observed that no serious efforts had been made by the police chief to improve the working of his force. It also said that AIG Finance Javed Mehar had no expertise in finance, while frequent transfers and postings within the police had multiplied ill-governance. Adjourning the matter for August 4, the bench told the chief secretary to appear in person.