KARACHI: The Supreme Court on Monday sought a report from police authorities regarding action against senior officers involved in illegal appointments in the department.

A three-judge bench, headed by Justice Gulzar Ahmed and comprising Justices Maqbool Baqar and Munib Akhtar, was hearing a set of applications moved by 23 officials against their dismissal from service in the police department in district Hyderabad at the Karachi Registry.

The bench directed the authorities to submit the report, including action taken against the police officers for their involvement in illegal appointments, within four weeks.

The bench inquired from a police officer as to what action had been taken against those officers who had made such appointments and took money in return.

The officer informed the court that an inquiry against such officers was under way.

The court was told that police jobs had been given in violation of service rules and regulations

The bench members remarked that apparently illegal appointments had been made in the police on a large scale.

A provincial law officer conceded that appointments had been made in the police department in violation of the service rules and regulations and maintained that fresh tests had been conducted through the NTS system.

The bench members deplored that the applicants might have been appointed by the officers by taking money from them.

The applicants appearing in person submitted that the apex court had ordered an inquiry into alleged illegal appointments made in the Sindh Reserve Police (SRP).

However, they submitted that instead of inquiring into the alleged illegal appointments in the SRP, the higher authorities initiated an inquiry into the appointments made in the district police in Hyderabad, where they were appointed.

The applicants further submitted that their services had been terminated without serving any show-cause notices and completing other legal formalities.

The court was pleaded to set aside their termination orders.

Pre-arrest bail pleas dismissed

Another SC bench dismissed pre-arrest bail applications of two suspects in a case pertaining to alleged allotment of over 500 acres of land in Korangi.

A two-judge bench comprising Justices Mushir Alam and Faisal Arab rejected the bail pleas filed by Amjad Hussain and Aslam Hussain through Advocate Khawaja Naveed Ahmed.

Earlier, the counsel submitted that the applicants’ bail pleas had been dismissed by the Sindh High Court and pleaded to admit them to bail before arrest to enable them join the investigation as they apprehended arrest at the hands of the National Accountability Bureau.

After dismissal of bail applications, the applicants tried to escape in the car of their counsel. However, NAB officials arrested them from outside.

Later, NAB produced the suspects before the link judge of the accountability courts, Farid Anwar Qazi, to seek their physical remand for interrogation.

However, the judge remanded them in judicial custody till June 10 and directed NAB to produce them in court on the next date.

Published in Dawn, June 4th, 2019