All appointments in consultation with federal, provincial governments: LHC seeks report by January 14

A full bench of the Lahore High Court (LHC) on Wednesday directed the Inspector General Punjab Police (IGP) to make all appointments in the police department in consultation of the federal and provincial governments in accordance with the law and report to the court by January 14.
There are 92 slots of Grade 19 police officials in the province but only 58 officials are available and despite all these shortcomings, 20 officials of Grade 19 have been appointed as district police officers, the IGP added. The bench headed by Justice M Bilal Khan was taking up various identical petitions questioning law and order situation in the province and seeking directions for the police department to make all the appointments according to the law.
The bench observed that the Police Order Ordinance 2006 (Amended) needed to be amended for it had lacunas. At this Advocate General (AG) Punjab Khawaja Haris said that the Police Order and the Local Government Ordinance were promulgated with the vested interests of a dictator.
The IGP informed the bench that they were making all efforts for appointment of senior police officials but were faced with shortage of suitable officials for the slot. The IGP said they were trying their best to implement the police order as evident from three meetings of the Federal Promotion Board in the last six months.