Lahore High Court (LHC) Chief Justice (CJ) Ijaz Ahmed Chaudhry on Tuesday gave six weeks to the inspector general of Punjab Police (IGP) to submit a detailed report on recruitment of constables who lacked physical standards of chest and height. On being summoned, IGP Javed Iqbal appeared in court and submitted a report stating that a deputy inspector general (DIG)-level committee has been constituted for an inquiry into irregularities in the police recruitment process and appointment of constables, who have not passed the physical standards test. The IGP requested the court to grant six weeks to the committee, headed by DIG Mubashar, to complete its work.
The LHC CJ accepted the IGP’s request and granted time until July 19 with directions to do the needful purely on merit without showing any favour or discrimination towards any recruit. The LHC CJ was hearing a contempt of court petition filed by constable-recruit Raheel Shahid of Narowal submitting that he had completed the training course at the Choong Police Training School, Lahore after but was not given a pass certificate on pretext of deficiency in chest and height measurements. The IGP and the Choong Police Training School were made respondents in the petition.
On this, the court directed the IGP to appear in court with a complete report on the matter to explain why the petitioner was dropped from the training course after completion of the training. The LHC CJ observed, “The court cannot put its stamp on the faulty police recruitment process and leave recruits at the mercy of the department.” On previous hearings, a report was submitted by police on behalf of the IGP stating that from 2004 to 2008, around 45,424 constables and driver constables were recruited in different phases in various regions of Punjab.
The report said that in 2008, the Central Police Office noticed that many newly-recruited constables and driver constables, enrolled in various districts, did not meet the laid down physical standards. On May 19, 2009, the then IGP ordered re-measurements in all training institutions including the Choong Police Training School, Lahore.
The report said that after re-measurement, around one-fourth of the recruited constables were found to be deficient in chest and height measurements, which was held under supervision of DPOs, CPOs, and CCPO. In the Choong Police School, 494 constables were found short of physical standards of chest and height and were not declared passed-out despite the fact that they had undergone training. When disciplinary action was initiated by the department, around 84 petitions were filed in the LHC against the action.
