The Provincial Ombudsman, while setting aside the dismissal orders of a Police Constable Muhammad Aslam, has held that the period of absence of the official may be treated as leave.
According to the details, the complainant Mst. Muneeran Bibi wife of Muhammad Aslam, who was recruited in Punjab Constabulary on March 07, 1981 and transferred to Rawalpindi in 1992, submitted that her husband went to Sialkot to meet his in-laws, where he expired on March 04, 1998 due to heart attack.
The widow tried her best to know the place of posting of her husband, but could not succeed. Thereafter, the complainant approached Zameer Hussain, a retired police officer, to collect information about the posting of her husband who intimated that Additional Superintendent of Police, Rawalpindi, had dismissed her husband on April 14, 1998, 42 days after his death.
The widow requested to set aside the impugned dismissal orders of her husband and District Police Officer, Rawalpindi, be directed to pay the emoluments of deceased husband to her.
In his decision, Punjab Ombudsman observed that, according to the death certificate, Muhammad Aslam, died on March 04, 1998, whereas, order of his dismissal was issued on April 04, 1998. Thus, the order was passed one month after the death of complainant's husband.
The Ombudsman observed that on the death of a person, the proceedings against him/her stand abated. Therefore, the Ombudsman held that the order passed by Additional Superintendent of Police, Rawalpindi, was a nullity in the eyes of law, and denial of pension benefits to the family of the deceased, on the basis of an illegal order, was an act of maladministration.