KARACHI: The Supreme Court on Thursday threw out an application of the Sindh police chief asking Justice Amir Hani Muslim to recuse himself from continuing to hear the proceedings regarding withholding of funds meant for the investigation wing of police and their disbursement for other purposes because of his bias.

Headed by Justice Muslim, the three-judge bench dismissed the recusal application observing that this issue was not about bias.

In his application, the Inspector General of Police, Sindh, Ghulam Hyder Jamali, had stated that Justice Muslim had been in touch with committee members including DIGs A.D. Khawaja and Sanaullah Abbasi. “These officers are a party to these proceedings,” he added.

The police chief requested the bench to determine whether it was desirable for a judge to meet litigants or contesting rivals in litigation pending before him.

IGP Jamali said: “The honourable judge has already expressed his mindset and bias against me by stating in open court that I should not be in uniform. When I took exception to these remarks, the honourable judge called me inefficient.” He said the remarks were against the dignity of man under Article 14 of the Constitution.

He said Justice Amir Hani Muslim had become personally interested in the matter, and added: “I have sufficient information in this regard”.

He requested Justice Muslim to consider the propriety or desirability of recusing from the bench.

After rejecting the application, Justice Muslim observed that he had given remarks about IGP Jamali when he first feigned ignorance about a kidnapping case and then said the matter was in his knowledge.

He further observed that remarks were given verbally and they were not mentioned in the court’s order. “I will keep on performing my duties, and if I find myself unable to deliver justice, I will not continue,” he said, telling the IGP that he might file a review against the dismissal of the recusal application.

As for the illegal appointments in the police department, DIG Abbasi informed the court that serious irregularities were noticed in this regard.

The IGP said out of 12,000 appointments, over 5,000 were illegal, but the committee comprising DIGs Abbasi and Khawaja did not investigate the matter as they were themselves involved in illegal appointments.

The court asked the IGP as to what action he took when the matter of illegal appointments came to his knowledge. The IGP said he issued a show-cause notice to the SSP concerned, but did not take any action against the committee members because the DIGs would have termed the action victimisation.

He suggested that the inquiry into the matter of illegal appointments should have been conducted by honest and impartial officers.

Billboards removal ordered

The same bench that also comprised Justices Shaikh Azmat and Khilji Arif Hussain directed the chief executive officers of the Cantonment Board Faisal and the Cantonment Board Clifton to immediately remove all illegal hoardings and signboards which do not conform to the prescribed guidelines.

The court warned that the two chief executive officers would have to appear in court in case the court’s orders were not complied with by Friday (today when the court will again take up the matter).

During a previous hearing, the Cantonment Board Faisal in its report said 93 illegal hoardings were installed within its jurisdiction, while 31 and 33 such boards were installed on the land owned by Pakistan Navy and Civil Aviation Authority, respectively.

Besides, the report said, 26 illegal signboards were installed on the land of station headquarters, two on the land owned by Pakistan Air Force and one illegal signboard was installed on the land of Pakistan Railway. It said 14 illegal signboards were removed from Karsaz and 10 others were uprooted from Rashid Minhas Road.

According to the KMC, there are 17 agencies which permit the installation of hoardings in Karachi.

Published in Dawn, March 11th, 2016