CHINIOT/GUJRAT: Administrative and revenue staff in various parts of the province observed a strike on Monday against the alleged detaining and handcuffing of the Sahiwal tehsil assistant commissioner (AC) in Sargodha district on Saturday on the orders of a civil judge.

Public dealing and other official matters remained suspended in the offices of deputy commissioners, assistant commissioners, revenue officers, assistant revenue officers, patwaris and other staff as well as land record centres in various tehsils of the province against the alleged maltreatment of Assistant Commissioner Raja Muhammad Haider by a civil judge in Sahiwal.However, some deputy commissioners continued working from home.

In Chiniot, over a 100 land transfer deals were to be registered on Monday for which a list had been displayed a day before.But sub-registrar/Revenue Officer Nadeem refused to work and postponed all the tasks to some other day.All the work at Arazi record centres was also suspended.

On chief secy’s application, LHC CJ seeks reports from Sargodha D&SJ and DC

Resultantly, applicants faced a lot of difficulties in sorting out their revenue matters and land registrations.

Sahiwal tehsil Assistant Commissioner Haider, who is also the Municipal Committee administrator, had been summoned by Civil Judge Muhammad Naeem a few days ago in a case filed by Advocate Zeeshan Akbar regarding encroachments around Jhang Road near the new vegetable market that were hindering smooth traffic flow.

On his repeated absence, the judge had issued arrest warrants for Haider, the Municipal Committee chief officer and the station house officer concerned.

However, AC Haider appeared in court on Saturday and told the judge that he could not comply with the orders due to other official engagements upon which the judge expressed displeasure and termed the AC’s conduct inappropriate. Both the AC and judge got into an argument and the judge ordered his staff to detain the AC and handcuff him before shifting him to jail.

However, leaders of the local legal fraternity intervened and on their insistence the AC tendered a written apology to the court after which he was released. Haider was also directed to comply with the court orders before the next hearing.

As per another account, the civil judge had summoned AC Haider regarding the encroachments on Saturday, who sent his reader to court instead. Expressing displeasure over the non-appearance of the official, the civil judge sent a bailiff to get the AC. When he reached the court, the AC was handcuffed for around half an hour and later released on the intervention of local lawyers fraternity.

Separately, in an application, Punjab Chief Secretary Jawad Rafique Malik took up the matter with the Lahore High Court (LHC) chief justice and conveyed the demands of his staff.Consequently, as per the LHC registrar, the chief justice sought a report on the incident from the Sargodha district and sessions judge as well as the deputy commissioner.

Chiniot Assistant Revenue Officer Sohail Niazi condemned the alleged maltreatment of the AC by the civil judge and said revenue staff across Punjab could continue its strike for an indefinite period till the judge apologised for the “misdeed”.

In Gujrat, the revenue and clerical staff of administrative offices demonstrated against the treatment meted out to the AC by locking the main entrance to their offices and demanded an impartial inquiry and action against the judicial officer for utter disgrace towards an administrative officer.

A senior administrative officer privy to the matter told Dawn that their strike would continue till their demands were met.

On the other hand, the legal fraternity and judicial officers of Sahiwal tehsil were of the opinion that the AC had disrespected the court and misbehaved with the judge that should be taken up at the senior government level.

The Sahiwal Bar Association also observed a strike and boycotted the proceedings to express solidarity with the civil judge and demanded action against the AC concerned.

Special Assistant to the Chief Minister on Information Firdous Ashiq Awan, while talking to reporters, deplored the incident and said an inquiry into the matter should be conducted. However, she said that executive officers should resume their official duty to serve the public.

Our correspondent from Sargodha adds: Revenue department employees went on a pen-down strike across the district and adjoining tehsils of Khushab district in solidarity with AC Haider.

They demanded transfer of the civil judge by Dec 17 otherwise they would extend their strike across Punjab. The All Pakistan Clerk Association also joined the strike and demanded a high-level inquiry into the incident.

Patwaris of Sahiwal tehsil and other revenue department staff had gathered around the civil court and demonstrated against Civil Judge Muhammad Naeem.

Published in Dawn, December 15th, 2020