LAHORE, Nov 8: The provincial home secretary did not announce what it was believed to be the sharing of power between him and the IGP under the new police law because of some last minute complications here on Friday.
The home secretary was expected to announce the new power formula at a news conference at the Civil Secretariat which was cancelled at the eleventh hour. Sources said the press conference was cancelled because of the objections by the police and some legal flaws.
Nevertheless, government officials who had arranged for the press conference continued to claim that it was not about the power sharing between the home secretary and the IGP. It was about teachers and was cancelled as they did not arrive for negotiations, they claimed.
Police are seeking full powers of ex-officio secretary for the IGP under the new police law whereas bureaucracy believes that this cannot be done under the law.
They said the governor had also decided in principle that the IGP would be given all financial and administrative powers but the authority to move files to the chief executive for decisions on official matters would continue to be enjoyed by the home secretary.
Senior police officials agreed on Friday that the last meeting held with the governor in the chair on the issue had taken the same decision. But, they said, the final notification regarding the new power sharing formula was yet to be sent to the governor for approval by the chief secretary.
They said it was yet to be seen as to how the decision taken in principle was jotted down in the notification. “Certainly we will press for our point of view,” they said, when asked whether they would contest any deviation from the decision in the notification.
It was later learnt that the home secretary wanted to retain transfer and posting powers of the officers from ASPs to the DIGs, leaving those of the DSPs and rank SPs with the IGP.
A senior police official said under the new law the home secretary could retain transfer and posting powers of only DIGs. The transfer and posting of the officers below this rank was the prerogative of the IGP, he said.