Supreme Court suspends transfer order of Lahore CCPO Dogar

A three-member bench of the top court headed by Justice Ijaz ul Ahsan heard Dogar’s plea.

Supreme Court suspends transfer order of Lahore CCPO Dogar. The Supreme Court on Friday suspended the transfer order of Ghulam Mahmood Dogar as the Lahore capital city police officer (CCPO) and forwarded the matter to a larger bench of the apex court.

A three-member bench of the top court headed by Justice Ijaz ul Ahsan heard Dogar’s plea and referred the matter to a five-member bench which is hearing a case related to transfer and posting in Punjab.

On Thursday, Justice Ijaz ul Ahsan heard the case and directed the Chief Election Commissioner Sikandar Sultan Raja to provide all the records regarding Dogar’s transfer. The court also reconstituted the bench and added Justice Munib Akhtar to it.

Ghulam Mahmood Dogar — a blue-eyed officer of former chief minister Parvez Elahi — was removed as the city police chief by the caretaker administration on January 23 and replaced with Bilal Siddique Kamyana.

During today’s hearing, Justice Ahsan asked where is chief election commissioner.

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At this, the Election Commission’s secretary replied that CEC Sikandar Sultan Raja is unwell and hence, could not appear before the court.

The secretary said the Punjab government made a verbal request to transfer Dogar on January 23. He said that they received the written request on January 24 which was approved on February 6.

At this, Justice Munib Akhtar inquired whether orders are issued on verbal requests normally.

Meanwhile, Justice Ahsan said that a verbal request was approved and orders were issued.

However, the transfer letter was issued after the implementation, he remarked.

“Do federal institutions work on verbal orders? Can constitutional bodies issue orders verbally?” asked Justice Akhtar.

Justice Akhtar remarked that the CEC can’t decide regarding transfers and postings without consulting the Election Commission members.

“Has the Election Commission transferred its authorities to the chief election commissioner?” questioned Justice Akhtar.

At this, the director general (DG) law said that there is no document to delegate the authority.