KARACHI: The Supreme Court on Monday directed the establishment secretary to file all the record about the inquiries conducted against the senior officers of Sindh police with patchy records within two weeks.

The three-judge bench of the SC headed by Justice Gulzar Ahmed expressed dissatisfaction on a report filed by the establishment secretary regarding the inquiries conducted against 35 senior police officers of Sindh.

Justice Ahmed expressed displeasure for dropping proceedings against some senior officials and wondered why the senior officials were ignored.

The bench directed the secretary to submit the record of inquiries and said that the court would thoroughly examine each case.

In a previous hearing, the apex court had directed the establishment division secretary to submit a comprehensive report regarding departmental proceedings and action taken against the police officers of grade 18 and above.

The provincial authorities and an apex court-appointed inquiry committee’s head through the reports informed the apex court in December that 12,000 police officials were found involved in misuse of powers and had patchy backgrounds and about the action taken against them.

According to the reports, former provincial police chief Ghulam Haider Jamali, former DIG for training Shahab Mazhar Bhalli, former AIG for finance Fida Hussain, SSP Ghulam Azfar Mahesar, Matiari district SP Amjad Ahmed Shaikh and other top-ranking officials’ conduct was found illegal.

However, the provincial authorities said that since they could not take action against the police officers above grade 17, their cases were sent to the establishment division for disciplinary proceedings in accordance with the law and service rules.

Published in Dawn, June 12th, 2018