KARACHI: The provincial government on Tuesday argued before the Sindh High Court that it had removed A.D. Khowaja, a grade-21 officer serving on an own-pay-and-scale (OPS) basis on grade-22 post of the inspector general of police, to appoint one of the senior officers as the police chief in compliance with an order of the Supreme Court that had deprecated appointments on OPS basis.

Forwarding further arguments on an application against the government’s decision to remove IG Khowaja, Advocate General barrister Zamir Ghumro said the incumbent police chief being an officer of the federal government could be removed any time by the provincial government as it could not take any other action against him.

He said Mr Khowaja was a junior officer in the seniority of officers of the Police Service of Pakistan and was serving in the provincial government on an OPS basis. He contended that the person who served on an OPS basis was replaced by a senior one as ruled by the Supreme Court in different judgments.

The provincial government’s chief law officer pointed out that Mr Khowaja had himself once filed a constitutional petition against Shahid Hayat when the former was appointed additional city police chief stating that Mr Hayat could not be made Additional IG Karachi on OPS as he was junior to him.

He said the APT Rules of Business of the Sindh government did not cover officers on deputation. He said the SHC had no jurisdiction to hear the instant petition as it related to the terms and conditions of service.

While barrister Ghumro was still on his heels, the SHC bench, headed by Justice Munib Akhtar, adjourned the hearing to Wednesday when the former would conclude his arguments.

Meanwhile, the bench maintained its earlier interim order restraining Mr Khowaja’s removal from the post of IG.

Civil rights campaigners had approached the SHC for contempt proceedings against the provincial government after it surrendered the services of Mr Khowaja to the federal government and appointed Additional IG Sardar Abdul Majeed Dasti, a grade-21 officer, as acting IG on April 1.

Gas curtailment case

The same bench put off the hearing of a petition challenging curtailment of gas supply to Sindh as the respondent federal government and Sui Southern Gas Company sought time to file their respective comments.

The bench also put the federal government’s law officer on notice and adjourned the hearing to a date to be later pronounced by the court office.

The petition was filed by the chairman of the district council Umerkot, Syed Noor Ali Shah, who impleaded the federal government through petroleum and natural resources secretary, SSGC and provincial secretary of the energy department. The petitioner was represented by barrister Faizan Hussain Memon.

He said the province was blessed with huge reserves of natural resources, including but not limited to oil and natural gas.

The petitioner stated that it was a matter of record that the production quantity of gas of the province was in excess of its consumption. Precisely, he said, the province produced more than 70 per cent of the gas produced in the whole country, whereas it consumed less than 40pc of its production capacity.

He said the people of the province suffered immensely on account of shortage of supply of gas to its domestic and commercial consumers, adding that the federal government and the gas utility had failed to meet the gas demand of the province.

Mayor’s plea

The bench also issued notice to the provincial authorities to file their comments on a petition filed by the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan, requesting it to devolve the Sindh Solid Waste Management Board (SSWMB) from the provincial government to the local government. It put off the hearing to June 1.

The petition, filed by the MQM-P through its leader and Karachi Mayor Wasim Akhtar, stated that the SSWMB was established under the Sindh Solid Waste Management Board Act, 2014, with functions to cater to the needs of the people. Since then the board was being run by the Sindh government, the mayor said.

He also referred to a Supreme Court order stating that “this non-functional board [SSWMB] has never performed and should be dissolved to local bodies as provided under the rules of business”.

The petitioner maintained that despite the directives of the apex court, steps were not taken to transfer the function of the board to elected local representatives. He asked the court to direct the authorities concerned to transfer all the assets to the local government institutions.

Published in Dawn, May 24th, 2017