The Supreme Court on Wednesday disposed of a petition that sought contempt of court proceedings against Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, the four provincial chief ministers and senior bureaucrats for allegedly ordering illegal transfers and promotions.
The court observed that only people who had personally suffered on account of the transfers on supposedly political or other arbitrary grounds could pursue the case against the executive. Petitioner Faheem Akhtar argued that the prime minister, chief ministers and provincial chief secretaries had committed contempt of court by disregarding the SC verdict in the Anita Turab case ahead of appointment of the army chief and joint chief of army staff.
The petitioner cited transfers by the federal and provincial government, particularly in by-elections in the Punjab. He claimed that all district and division level officials had been transferred wherever a Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) candidate had lost the by-election in any constituency. He alleged that the provincial and federal political and administrative leadership had ordered the transfers on political grounds and said that the letters of the transfers for district administration officials and police officials were executed without assigning any reasons.
Published in The Express Tribune, July 10th, 2014.