The Supreme Court (SC) suspended on Friday the transfer order of the former Lahore capital city police officer (CCPO) Ghulam Mahmood Dogar.

A three-member bench headed by Justice Ijazul Ahsan of the apex court delivered the decision and referred the case to a five-member larger bench.

Drama around Dogar’s suspension

On November 5 last year, the federal government had suspended then Lahore CCPO Dogar after an angry mob of PTI supporters staged a protest outside Governor House in Lahore against the assassination attempt on the party’s chairman, Imran Khan.

Dogar was said to be suspended over his alleged failure in providing foolproof security to Governor House during the PTI’s protests and politicising the police department.

Despite the suspension by the federation, Dogar did not leave charge of the post and had challenged his suspension in the Lahore High Court (LHC). He had also moved the Federal Service Tribunal (FST) against his suspension.

On November 8 last year, the LHC had dismissed Dogar’s plea, saying it does not have the authority to hear the case. Meanwhile, on November 10 last year, the tribunal comprising Asim Akram and Mushtaq Jadoon had suspended the federal government’s November 5 notification in a two-page written verdict.

Approving Dogar’s appeal against the federal government’s decision, the tribunal had declared his suspension against the law and contrary to the verdicts of the top court.

Later, on December 2 last year, a FST bench had ordered to remove the CCPO, rejecting the single-bench order of reinstating Dogar which was then challenged by the cop in the apex court, which reinstated him.

Last month, on January 23, after the establishment of the caretaker government in Punjab, the transfer order of Dogar was issued once again. The government replaced Dogar with Additional IG Bilal Siddique Kamyana as the Lahore CCPO.