The Supreme Court’s decision declaring the direct appointments, promotions and inductions in the Sindh government’s bureaucracy and police service as illegal and unconstitutional could prove to be the first step towards better governance in Sindh. The previous Sindh government, by violating settled laws and bypassing the Sindh Public Service Commission (SPSC) which is responsible to appoint grade 11 and above officers, appointed and promoted dozens of officers in different departments. The government also inducted its blue eyed officers in various departments like police, district management group, excise and taxation, anti-corruption, food, information and law, which resulted in bad governance and poor law and order situation.
Unfortunately, the Sindh Assembly, whose prime duty is to make legislation that favours the public, legitimised all illegal, unconstitutional and unethical steps of the previous Sindh government by approving the ‘Sindh Services Amendment Act 2013’ in the last days of its tenure. This not only shocked and frustrated the pubic generally but also discouraged officers particularly who were recruited on merit.
The practice of the Sindh government affected service structure and promotion schedule of 153,745 employees of different grades out of a total of 582, 746 employees.
This practice is not a new one. It has its roots in 1994 but reached its peak in the previous government where the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) ministers, especially Chief Minister Sindh Syed Qaim Ali Shah, on his own and on the wishes of other politically influential party leaders appointed many officers in the Sindh government’s different departments. Along with the PPP, its coalition partner Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) not only appointed hundreds of their party workers in the City District Government’s different departments but also promoted them illegally. The third coalition partner, the Awami National Party (ANP), also appointed its workers in various departments. For example, ANP’s provincial Labour Minister Amir Nawab appointed three persons as doctors/medical officers in grade 18 in his department on fake diplomas of ghost Afghan colleges. According to the law, anyone with a foreign medical institute degree cannot practice medicine in Pakistan officially without verification, recognition and permission of the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC).
This practice of the previous government also caused huge financial burden on the exchequer besides ruining the service structure of the province.
By violating settled laws and bypassing the SPSC, the government appointed many officers directly, especially on the key post of an assistant commissioner (AC). The law says that the CM Sindh can appoint 12 assistant commissioners directly in his five-year tenure but the CM Sindh Qaim Ali Shah appointed at least 15 more due to their political backing. Abubakar Mangrio, Syed Altaf Shah, Yar Muhammad Bozdar, Sajjad Hussain Mahar, Nazir Soomro, Syed Umied Ali, Najeeb Hakhrani, Amir Jamali and others who were appointed in this manner were close relatives of PPP leaders.
On June 11, 2013, the Supreme Court of Pakistan’s three-member bench, headed by Justice Asif Saeed Khosa, in a petition by Naseem Ghani Sehto, an officer of grade 20 of secretariat group, and other identical petitions, while declaring the legislation of Sindh Assembly in this regard as illegal and unconstitutional directed the Sindh government to terminate the out of way promotions, sent back the officers to their original positions in their respective parent departments who were inducted illegally in police, excise, secretariat group and anti-corruption departments, and asked to stop hiring retired officers on contract basis. The SC in its historical judgment declared all the acts of the Sindh government in this regard as illegal, unconstitutional, unethical and in clear violation of basic human rights. The SC said that the chief minister Sindh could not enjoy powers above constitution and law. It granted a three-week time period to comply with its order.
Former Additional Chief Secretary of Sindh Fazul Ullah Qureshi told Pique that this anti-merit policy had damaged the whole society of Sindh. Appointments based on nepotism, promotions of favourite officers and hiring retired officers had spoiled the whole structure of the Sindh bureaucracy and police service. The result of these acts was that there was a bad case of law and order situation in rural and urban areas along with bad governance. How you make a doctor a police officer and a teacher an officer of the secretariat group, he asked.
After the SC’s decision, more than 150 highly influential officers had to go to their original posts, Secretary Co-Operative Azhar Baloch, Ali Hassan Barohi a grade 20 officer waiting for posting in secretariat group, Secretary Ushar and Zakat Syed Abid Ali Shah, Secretary Kaleem Makie, Secretary Agriculture Muhammad Jaffar Abbasi, Director Anti-Corruption Kashif Siddiqi, Inspector General Registration Aga Fakhar, Deputy Director Aftab Ahmed Mallah, Managing Director Karachi Fishries Abdul Gani Jokhio, Director General Protocol Dabeer Ahmed, Deputy Secretary Health Ahmed Bux Solangi, Secretary Fisheries Atta Panhwar, Officer of the Information Technology Muhammad Yousif, Principle Secretary to Governor Sindh Dr Noshad Ahmed, Medical Officer Sattar Jatoi, Deputy Secretary Chief Minister House Ali Nawaz Chachar, Additional Secretary Health Kiran Noman, Special Secretary Finance Imdad Memon, Deputy Commissioner Badin Rafiq Qureshi, Special Secretary Services and General Administration (S&GAD) A D Suhail Qureshi, Additional Secretary Excise and Taxation Abdul Wahab Shaikh, Deputy Commissioner East Karachi Ghanwar Khan Lagari, Secretary to Governor Sindh Akhtar Ghori and others are in the list. These officers, who were originally working in different federal departments and autonomous bodies, could not be inducted in provincial bureaucracy. Many politically backed officers and employees on different grades were inducted and then promoted illegally in the provincial police service.
Former Law Minister and current MNA from Larkana Ayaz Soomro, by using his position absorbed both of his brothers, Riaz Soomro and Farhan Soomro, from the post of inspectors of Anti-Narcotics Force (ANF) and PEMRA to Sindh Police. Within a passage of only three years, Riaz Soomro was promoted three times, from an inspector to DSP, then SP and finally SSP. His younger brother Farhan Soomro was inducted on a one-year contract in the Sindh Police as SP and later promoted to SSP. MNA Ayaz Soomro also appointed 78 law officers directly on grade 18. After the SC decision, both Soomro brothers have to join their original departments, ANF and PEMRA, as inspectors.
After the decision, DIG Finance Dost Ali Baloch has to join IB as Assistant Director, DIG Abdul Malik will demote to DSP, SSP Farooq Awan to DSP, Personal Staff Officer (PSO) of the Inspector General (IG) Sindh SSP Irshad Sehar will now demote to inspector, SSP Niaz Khoso will become DSP, SSP Thatta Munir Khuro will become inspector, SSP Police Head Office Noor Rind will return to his post of inspector, SSP Criminal Investigation Department (CID) Raja Umar Khitab will become inspector, SSP Chaudhry Aslam will become inspector, SSP Irfan Bahadur as DSP, SSP Waqar Malhan as inspector, SSP Rao Anwar as inspector and SSP Pir Farees Sarhandi as DSP.
These police officers were promoted on their so-called gallantry performance. For example, one inspector was promoted for constructing a shed in police headquarters, another for fixing hand pumps in police colony. Yet others arrested so-called terrorists of banned organisations, which the court later proved that they were mere poor labourers and fruit vendors, and released them.
The writer is a journalist based in Karachi.
