PHC questions PSB’s authority on promoting police high-ups

Peshawar-Peshawar High Court has issued notices to the attorney general for Pakistan and advocate general of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in a writ petition challenging the promotion of grade-17 and above police officers through the Provincial Selection Board (PSB) and questioned if the provincial government was authorized to decide these promotions.
The two-member bench comprising Justice Arshad Ali and Justice Muhammad Khurshid Iqbal declared this while hearing a petition filed by seven police officers including DPO Karak Shafiullah Khan, DPO Shaukat Ali, SP Salahuddin and others.
The petitioners’ lawyers told the court that the petitioners were serving as DPOs and the provincial government has recently convened the Provincial Selection Board to reportedly 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 lawyers said the petitioners were senior police officers but they had come to know that their junior colleagues were likely to be given good postings through the Provincial Selection Board. The court adjourned the case for August 10 and directed the attorney general and advocate general to explain if the provincial government had the authority to decide the promotions of the senior officers.

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