DCO's inefficiency caused lawyers-cops clash: CJP

Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry on Friday observed that the lawyer-police clash was triggered due to incompetence of the administration. Hearing the suo moto notice of the police highhandedness on lawyers, the Chief Justice gave the DCO Lahore Sajjad Bhutta dressing-down, saying that imposition of section 144 at the court and Aiwan-e-Adl premises put the whole judicial system on halt. The English used to make those people magistrates who had grey hair, while today the wrong decisions by the DCO prompted a clash, the CJ maintained adding that appointments against merits caused such issues. Justice Ramday quizzed the DCO whether he would impose section 144 in the SC too; an administrative officers decisions should not be tinged with personal vendetta, he added. The CJ, when told that 7 cops including one DSP and 3 SHOs have been transferred, said that strict action should be taken against the accused as just transfer would serve no purpose. On being asked about the DSP of Misri Shah Police Station, who was shown dancing around in a video footage before giving a sound thrashing to the lawyers, the IGP told the court that he has been suspended. The court has been deferred till Oct 15.