NAWABSHAH, Oct 2: At least 19 police officers in Sindh are officiating as the superintendent of police (SP) and deputy superintendent of police (DSPs) in different cities of the province in defiance of the executive as well as judicial orders, well informed sources told Dawn here on Tuesday.

These police officials had been reverted to the rank of inspector due to their bad service records and out-of turn promotions to the post of Deputy Superintendent Police (DSP) superseding seniors.

These police officials include acting SP West Karachi Imam Bux Tagar, DSP CIA East Karachi Niaz Ahmed Khoso, Deputy Director Anti Corruption Establishment Hyderabad Mohammad Usman, SP special branch Hyderabad Saeed Ahmed and many others, sources disclosed.

To add insult to injury, the Sindh government is seriously considering to appoint some of these officiating SPs as full fledged SPs in the city and district government setup, a disgruntled police official posted in Nawabshah said.

According to the documents collected by this correspondent, these police officers were reverted to the rank of inspector during different provincial governments after complainants knocked the doors of chief ministers complaining against the out-of-turn promotion of these well- connected police officers.

Insiders said that the most influential among these controversial police officers, Imam Bux Tagar began his career as police constable of Khairpur range in 1968 and afterwards left the department only to resume his career as ASI in Karachi.

Mr Tagar shot to prominence when he was promoted as DSP and that too out of turn in 1991 during the Jam Sadiq’s provincial government.

The notification No: POL-HD-/2-70/91 issued in this regard reads: Imam Bux Tagar, inspector of Sindh Police Department is hereby promoted as Deputy Superintendent of Police (BPS-17) on temporary basis subject to clearance by department promotion committee.

This order was followed by the subsequent order of the government of Syed Muzaffar Shah through a notification issued on April 7, 1992 bearing No:POL-HD 20-24/92 reverting the 19 disputatious DSPs to the rank of inspector.

Being an expert in wheeling and dealing, Mr Tagar got this order suppressed through another notification dated 29-09-1994 opening the floodgates of promotions for the entire lot of 19 rankers of the police department.

But one of the affected police officer maintained that these ‘illegally promoted’ police officials are occupying the coveted positions of acting SPs and DSPs without the clearance from the departmental promotion committee.

“Mr Tagar is a dull and incompetent officer who is on the negative list”, a spokesman for the police department told this scribe when asked to comment on the situation arising out of the out-of-turn promotions of these officers.

He confirmed that these officers had sought relief from the Sindh High Court and the Supreme Court against the executive orders passed against them by the chief executive of the province but their applications were rejected. Sources privy to this affair believe that Mr. Tagar is so close to some Sindh government officials that he did not even bothered to respond to the show cause notices issued to him off and on by the Sindh Home Department.

One of these show cause notices was issued to him by the then provincial home secretary Manzoor Ahmed Bhutto.

According to sources, some of these acting SPs who are actually in grade 17, are displaying stars, which are only meant for grade 18 police officers, in sheer violation of police rules and regulations.

These 19 police officials had challenged the Sindh government move of December 12, 1996, reverting them to the rank of inspector, in Sindh High Court, and a double bench of the SHC had justified the decision of the provincial government in July 1, 1997.

The officials then moved the Supreme Court which also upheld the decision of the Sindh High Court.

Sources close to the newly-appointed IGP Sindh, Syed Kamal Shah maintain that the IG is kept in dark about the entire affair so that he could not take any action in this regard.