ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court suspended the order of transfer of Ghulam Mehmood Dogar as CCPO Lahore and referred the matter to the second bench of the Supreme Court.
A three-judge bench of the Supreme Court, headed by Justice Ijaz-ul-Ahsan, heard Dogar’s plea against the December 2022 verdict of the Federal Service Tribunal (FST).
On Thursday, Justice Ahsan heard the case and directed Chief Election Commissioner Sikandar Sultan Raja to provide all records related to dowry exchange. The court, while reconstituting the bench, also included Justice Muneeb Akhtar in it.
Dogar – a blue-eyed officer of former Chief Minister Pervaiz Elahi – was removed as the city police chief by the caretaker administration on January 23 and replaced by Bilal Siddique Kamiana.
During the hearing today, Justice Ahsan inquired that where is the Chief Election Commissioner?
To which the Secretary of the Election Commission replied that the CEC Raja is unwell and therefore cannot appear in the court.
Secretary Punjab said that the Punjab government made a verbal request on January 23 for the exchange of dogger, adding that they received a written request on January 24, which was accepted on February 6.
On which Justice Akhtar inquired whether orders are usually issued on oral request?
Meanwhile, Justice Ahsan said that orders were issued after accepting the oral request.
However, the transfer letter was issued after execution, he remarked.
“Do federal agencies operate on verbal orders? Can constitutional agencies issue verbal orders?” Justice Akhtar questioned.
Justice Akhtar remarked that the Chief Election Commissioner cannot decide on transfers and appointments without consulting the Election Commission members.
Has the Election Commission transferred its powers to the Chief Election Commissioner? Justice Akhtar questioned.
On this, Director General (DG) Law said that there is no document to hand over the authority.
Duggar’s Suspension – A Timeline
On November 5 last year, the federal government appointed the then Lahore CCPO Dugar to protest against the assassination of party chairman Imran Khan by an angry mob of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) supporters at the Governor House in Lahore. He was suspended after protesting outside. .
Dogar was suspended for allegedly failing to provide foolproof security to the Governor House and politicizing the police department during the PTI protests.
Despite the suspension by the federation, Dogar did not leave the charge of the post and challenged his suspension in the Lahore High Court (LHC). He had also approached the Federal Service Tribunal (FST) against his suspension.
On November 8 last year, the Lahore High Court had rejected Dogar’s plea saying it had no jurisdiction to hear the case. Meanwhile, on November 10 last year, the tribunal comprising Asim Akram and Mushtaq Jadoon, in a two-page written decision, suspended the federal government’s notification of November 5.
Allowing Dogar’s appeal against the federal government’s decision, the tribunal had termed his suspension as illegal and contrary to Supreme Court orders.
Later, on December 2 last year, an FST bench dismissed the single bench’s order to reinstate Dogar and ordered the removal of the CCPO, which was then challenged by the policeman in the Supreme Court, which restored them.
Last month on January 23, after the formation of the caretaker government in Punjab, orders were once again issued for the exchange of dowry. The government replaced Dogar with Additional IG Bilal Siddique Kamiana as Lahore’s CCPO.
