KARACHI, Feb 16: The Sindh Suo-motu Committee, constituted under the orders of the Supreme Court, has recommended action against over 200 police officials, including SHOs, IOs and a few PDSPs and SSPs.

The action has been recommended against them for their failure to submit challans in cases pending in their respective jurisdictions within the stipulated period of 14 days.

It is the first time in the history of the country that such action has been recommended against government/police officials for dereliction of duty.

In the Supreme Court order, while discussing the long-standing problems of backlog and delays in dispensation of justice, emphasis was on reducing backlog and expediting the disposal of cases.

The committee also came across certain cases where accused have been awaiting submission of their challans even for over two years.

In Karachi alone, 12 such cases were detected which fall under the definition of inordinate delay. Of them 3 pertains to police station Boat Basin, 2 to Defence and 2 to Clifton while one to Malir and one Landhi PS.

The committee, constituted at the provincial level, consists of home secretary as its head while IG police, provincial law secretary and advocate general as members. The committee so far has held its four sittings and made a good progress in implementing the order of August 2001 of the then chief justice Irshad Hasan Khan.

The action suggested against police officials include serving of showcause notices to the concerned officials for the abnormal delay, submission of challan within seven days and in some cases seeking explanation even from SPs for negligence of duty.

The only case in which the committee has recommended direct dismissal of SHO was of Landhi police stations where 5 persons were found in lock-up without their names in any FIR. The other recommendations of the committee in Landhi police station case include issuance of censuring notice to the SP for neglect of duty, posting of new DSP.

The Sindh government has developed a mechanism in the light of the order of Supreme Court to facilitate and provide relief to weaker sections of society in dispensation of criminal justice system.

The committee after paying surprise visit to various police stations in Sindh detected 15 cases in Badin, 60 in Dadu, 14 in Mirpurkhas, 11 in Larkana, 22 in Jacobabad, 1 in Sukkur, 1 in Naushero Feroze and 1 in Sanghar.

Circles close to the committee have praised the spirit of forming suo-motu committees which will not only help in meeting the requirement of justice but also facilitate witnesses in the cases who due to delay in trial also lost track giving benefit to the accused.

They have also stressed the need for monitoring the performance of the committee in the interest of dispensation of justice to the weaker sections of society.

Discussing the frequent causes of delay the Supreme Court order has made the following observations:

A root cause for delay in disposal of cases is the failure on the part of investigating officer to submit challan within the prescribed period of 14 days as provided in the criminal procedure code.

Senior police officers often ignore the delay on the part of IO in submission of challan.

Another malady affecting the entire system is the successive change of investigating officer either at the instance of the accused or the complainant which is an example of distrust by the public on the conduct of investigation by the police.

However, a superior police officer instead of scrutinizing such investigations prefers to order the change of conduct of investigation from one officer to another causing inordinate delay in the submission of challan.