LAHORE: Lahore High Court Chief Justice Muhammad Qasim Khan on Thursday sought further arguments from the federal and provincial government’s law officers and the petitioner’s counsel on the maintainability of a petition challenging the premature transfers of the Punjab inspector general of police and Lahore capital city police officer.

The chief justice took up the petition by PML-N MPA Malik Muhammad Ahmad Khan, also a lawyer, as an “objection case” since the registrar office questioned the locus standi of the petition to agitate the matter and the maintainability of the petition under Article 199 of the Constitution.

At the outset of the hearing, the law officers for the federal and the Punjab governments also opposed the maintainability of the petition and said the petitioner was not an aggrieved party in the matter.

Referring to Article 212 of the Constitution, they argued that the matters relating to transfer and promotion etc., of the civil servants could not be taken directly to the high court. They said the service tribunal was the appropriate forum to agitate such matters.

Addressing the court, Mr Ahmad, the petitioner, said the matter raised in the petition was of much importance.

Every case before the court was important, observed Chief Justice Khan asking the MPA as to how he was an affected person in the case. The judge further asked the petitioner whether he had been authorised to file the petition through a resolution passed by the provincial assembly.

Mr Ahmad said the question raised in the petition was not the transfer of an officer but the violation of Police Order 2002 and every citizen had the locus standi to challenge it.

At one point, Chief Justice Khan recalled former IGP Shoaib Dastagir’s statement before the court wherein he had stated that an absolute implementation of laws was not humanly possible.

“Can an officer with this approach lead a force?” the CJ raised the question on the competence of the former police chief.

The chief justice also expressed displeasure when the law officers sought time for detailed arguments on the question of maintainability.

He said the law officers never sought time when they appeared to defend a transfer made at the behest of a parliamentarian.

However, the CJ adjourned hearing till Sept 14 and directed both sides to come with more arguments.

Mr Ahmad in his petition contends that the premature transfers are in violation of the Police Order, 2002 which guarantee a tenure of three years, the Punjab government rules of business 2011, which secure a tenure of three years for IGP, and the judgments of the Supreme Court particularly in cases of Anita Turab and A.D. Khwaja, which restrain the governments from arbitrary transfer and removal of civil servants.

He asks the court to set aside the impugned notifications about removal of the IGP and the CCPO and appointments of the new incumbents.

Published in Dawn, September 11th, 2020