The Supreme Court on Friday suspended certain sections of the ACE Rules 2014, which require it to seek permission from chief minister prior to initiating an inquiry, registering a case or arresting an officer of BS-20 or above. Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar suspended sections 5, 6, 7 and 10 of the Punjab ACE Rules 2014 till further orders and issued a notice to Advocate General Punjab.
The Chief Justice expressed concern over the rules and observed that inquiries against government officers could not be transparent and independent in the presence of mandatory approval from a political regime. On another request of the ACE DG, the chief justice also directed the registrar of the Lahore High Court to fix hearings of all pending cases against inquiries of ACE for their disposal within six weeks. ACE Director General had written a letter to Chief Justice of Pakistan Mian Saqib Nisar stating that all such powers should be vest with the office of the director general instead of the chief minister.
The director general has stated that the organisation was hamstrung by stay orders issued by the high court.