Peshawar   -    Peshawar High Court issued notices to various authorities to explain if the Provincial Selection Board has the authority to promote grade-17 and above police officers and also made the court consent mandatory for organising the board’s meeting.  The two-member bench comprising Justice Ijaz Anwar and Justice Fazal Subhan issued notices to the Establishment Division, IG police KP, Establishment Department KP, the Attorney General of Pakistan and Advocate General KP in a writ petition, challenging the promotion of the grade-17 and above police officers through the provincial selection board. The authorities were asked to submit replies by September 13, the

next date of hearing in the case. The petition had been filed by seven police officers including DPO Karak Shafiullah Khan, DPO Shaukat Ali, SP Salahuddin, DSP Shahzadi, and others. The petitioners’ lawyers Anwarul Haq, Haji Muhammad Shoaib and Muhammad Ahmed Khan advocates and Additional Advocate General Khalid Rehman

from the KP government also appeared in the court. Advocate Anwarul Haq told the court that the petitioners were serving as DPOs and the provincial government had recently convened the Provincial Selection Board to promote

some “favourites”. The lawyers claimed that these promotions of the senior officers are not under the authority of the provincial government. Further, the lawyers said that the matter pertains to the concurrent list and this would be decided by the Establishment Division through  the Central Selection Board. The lawyer said the petitioners were senior police officers but  that they had come to know that now their juniors were likely to be given good postings through  the Provincial Selection Board. The lawyer also said that their  clients were senior officers but they were not being promoted to the next grade.  On the occasion, the Additional  Advocate General sought time to submit a reply from the provincial  government high-ups.  The court adjourned the case  for September 13 and asked the relevant authorities to submit  comments on the case.