The initiative would not only help boost the moral of the police force but also the promotion cases of 52 SPs, 415 DSPs, and 2536 Inspectors would be decided.
IGP Punjab constituted a committee headed by Additional-IG Muhammad Saleem Bhatti on April30, 2013 in this regard. DIG (Headquarters) Muhammad Amlish, DIG (Establishment) Amjad Javed Saleemi, DIG (Training) Tariq Masood Yasin and AIG (Legal) Chaudhry Muhammad Shafique Gujjar are the members of the committee.
This committee prepared a seniority list (not final) on May 10 and the officers are given 15 days time period for the submission of their objections to this effect.
Another committee headed by DIG (Establishment) Amjad Javed Saleemi and comprising DIG (R&D) Salman Chaudhry, AIG (Legal) Chaudhry Muhammad Shafique Gujjar and Registrar CPO Rana Muhammad Ajmal has also been working separately to remove objections in the list so that a final seniority list prepared to order the promotions of the officers.
It may be recalled that the matter of promotion of police officers had been pending for the last 30 years because of various complications. In 2005, the first seniority list had been prepared in which the police inspectors who were confirmed till 1991 were included.
The officers directly inducted in the department as inspectors in 1993 and 1995 had challenged the list in the Punjab Service Tribunal. The list was later quashed in 2006. Later, another list was prepared that was challenged by the lower subordinates after they got promoted to the rank of inspector in the Supreme Court of Pakistan. The Supreme Court however, restored the decision of Punjab Service Tribunal.
In 2008, a new seniority list had been prepared in the light of the directions of the Supreme Court and the Punjab Service Tribunal. On the basis of this list, 187 inspectors had been promoted to the rank of DSP in 2009 and 2010.
Later, the officers directly recruited as Inspectors in 1998 challenged this seniority list in Lahore High Court Multan Bench. As a result, the court ordered the department to prepare afresh as per the service rules and regulations.
In 2010, the Supreme Court of Pakistan while hearing a suo moto case directed the authorities to sort out the seniority list issue as per law and rules. Meanwhile, the Punjab Service Tribunal listened to the appeals of the concerned police officers and directed that the seniority list should be issued after corrections in the light of the orders of the court.
In 2012, another seniority list was prepared and as many as 400 police inspectors objected to that list. The list was later challenged in the Lahore High Court. The court ordered that the appeals of the police officers should be decided after proper hearing.
(Handout No. 90)
Source: Director Public Relations, Punjab Police.
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