February 12, 2007	Monday	Muharram 23, 1428

Please Visit our Sponsor (Ads open in separate window).

LAHORE, Feb 11: A committee, comprising senior officials, has started scrutinising record of all police officers of lower ranks in Punjab to single out corrupt and inefficient among them.

The singled out officers belonging to these two categories would either be removed from service or demoted to lower ranks, Dawn learnt here on Sunday.

The committee had been constituted on the directions of Chief Minister Pervaiz Elahi who had announced the removal of the black sheep among police in a parliamentary party meeting held recently in the city, senior government officials said.

They said record of the officers of the rank of DSPs, inspectors and SIs who are or had served as SHOs was being checked. In addition, their general reputation, list of property or other possessions like vehicles, and life style too were being checked to assess their conduct. Information was being collected from police record and through other law enforcement agencies.

Sources said completion of the research would lead to three types of action - removal from service, demotion or posting in offices rather than in the field. The cases of corrupt among police would also be sent to anti-corruption department or NAB for trial under the relevant laws.

They said the inefficient but honest police officers would be removed from field posts where active and crime fighting officers would be posted.

A decision to this effect would soon be taken to put in dedicated and honest force to fight crime which was increasing in the province, the sources claimed.

The chief minister had in the parliamentary party meeting taken a strong exception to the deteriorating law and order in the province, saying the police had failed to control crime despite increase in its budget from Rs6 billion to Rs21 billion and a considerable raise in salaries of officers and officials of all ranks.

He had warned that all DSPs and SHOs found indulged in corruption would be fired as, in his views, transferring such officers from one place to another would not help improve the department. As corrupt officials would not mend their ways the best way was to remove them from service, he declared.

Meanwhile, senior government officials said at the moment no major reshuffle was likely to be made in police at senior level as the provincial government was concentrating on improvement at the lower level.

Changes were expected in some big cities particularly in Lahore. A few senior officers who had now been promoted to the rank of additional IGs would be transferred and posted at new posts, or their present posts upgraded to make adjustments with their new ranks.