Sindh Civil Servants’ Act


THE Sindh Assembly recently passed the controversial Sindh Civil Servants’ (Amendment) Act 2013. The passage of this Act once again raised a few eyebrows across the board due to the following reasons.
There are plenty of petitions filed for and against out-of-turn promotions in the Supreme Court. This issue is sub judice and legislation on such a subject may violate article 204 (2) (C) of the Constitution of Pakistan.
Our police system is highly politicised. It is something which has been admitted once by the former IG, Sindh, in the Supreme Court, and, therefore, legalising such promotions may encourage further politicisation, resulting in lacklustre performance and increased bias.
The enactment of this law in a hurry was justified by treasury benches as an act to encourage outstanding performers in the police department. However, certain cases have surfaced recently where officers have been inducted with backdate seniority and some of them given the PSP cadre. Such acts cause more frustration among the police fraternity.
In the light of the above-mentioned reasons, it would have been better if the political parties in the provincial assembly had discussed the amendments to the house or moved the amendments to the standing committee concerned for further discussion.
It is time our legislators acted with a sense of responsibility and not rushed into laws without discussing its pros and cons.
TABRAIZ MARRI
Sangha
Dawn