The Supreme Court has reinstated Capital City Police Officer (CCPO) Lahore Ghulam Mahmood Dogar on his post. The apex court also issued on Friday a notice to the federal government while hearing the appeal of CCPO Dogar against his removal from service by a special bench of the Federal Service Tribunal. The Supreme Court’s order also automatically restored the joint investigation team (JIT) formed to investigate the assassination attempt on PTI Chairman and former prime minister Imran Khan. The JIT had stopped working following the Federal Service Tribunal’s (FST) ruling reinstating the suspension order of the body’s head, Lahore police chief Ghulam Mahmood Dogar.

The FST had upheld the federal government’s decision to suspend Dogar on the grounds that he was unable to provide adequate security to the Punjab Governor’s House during a protest held in the wake of the attack on the PTI’s rally. Dogar’s counsel Abid Zuberi prayed before the apex court that Ghulam Mahmood Dogar was first reinstated by the Federal Service Tribunal, then another FST two- member bench suspended Dogar’s reinstatement verdict. He maintained that the decision of a two-member FST bench cannot be suspended by another two-member FST bench. He also informed the court that government’s review appeal was also pending for hearing at the FST.

Justice Ijazul Hassan expressed surprise over FST bench’s proceedings saying first the bench said the petition was well before time and then suddenly it suspended the order. How can Tribunal’s one bench can rule against another bench’s decision, the SC judge asked. Justice Mazaahir Naqvi wondered how could the Lahore High Court say that the constitutional petition was not maintainable. Abid Zuberi informed the judges that the provincial government did not want to relieve the CCPO and send him to the Centre. The three-member apex court bench, led by Justice Ijazul Ahsan, heard the case and adjourned its hearing indefinitely.

Credit: Independent News Pakistan-INP