• Says transfer orders of police officers should be backed by reasons; no officer should be removed without consulting their seniors
• Court seeks complete list of transfers in four provinces over past decade

ISLAMABAD: Expressing concern over rising crime and insecurity in the country, the Supreme Court on Thursday barred provincial governments from prematurely posting and transferring police officers and directed officials to enforce the Police Order 2002 in letter and spirit.

The order requires police officers to serve in a post for at least three years and they could only be transferred before the stipulated period on complaints of inefficiency or ineffectiveness.

Headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Umar Ata Bandial, a three-judge Supreme Court bench also issued directions that if transferring a police officer was unavoidable, such a decision should be backed by good reasons and no officer should be removed without consulting his senior.

The petitions before the top court were moved by Rana Tahir Saleem and Muhammad Javaid, highlighting chronic political interference in transferring and posting police officers in Punjab.

The Supreme Court also asked for a complete list of police officers who were transferred over the last decade from Punjab, Khyber Pakh­tunkhwa, Sindh and Balochistan.

Justice Bandial wondered if the Punjab government followed the Police Order 2002 itself or should the court pass an order. He asked if the same formula of good governance should be adopted in Sindh and Balochistan as well.

In the last hearing on Nov 23, the Supreme Court observed that integrity, independence and trustworthiness were crucial attributes of the police force to ensure peace and smooth functioning of society.

On Thursday, the Supreme Court ordered that transfers of police officers should not be done at the whims of lawmakers.

It emphasised that it was the prerogative of the inspector general of police (IGP) to remove central and divisional police officers (CPOs and DPOs) before the three-year

requirement, but the legal requirements should still be followed in doing that.

Justice Bandial also directed that the court be informed after taking instructions from the provincial government in this regard and noted that people were suffering due to crime and insecurity.

The CJP regretted an impression of using the police force as an instrument for promoting vested and elite interests.

The court noted that as per the law, investigating officers should not be part of the routine affairs of the police department, and a separate cadre of such officers should be created to ensure complete independence while investigating a crime.

Justice Bandial, however, regretted that police lacked expertise and professionalism in investigation since defective evidence was produced before courts, which would ultimately benefit the accused.

He also recalled how the Supreme Court had to intervene with a direction to register an FIR against an attack on PTI chief Imran Khan in Wazirabad, as it couldn’t be registered for several days due to political interference.

The court didn’t have to intervene in the Punjab government’s issues if it followed the rules in running its affairs, the CJP observed.

The court also regretted that the crime situation in KP was also not encouraging.

The case will resume in the second week of January.

Published in Dawn, December 16th, 2022