ISLAMABAD 6 Sep TNS: Establishment Division on Wednesday failed to submit reply in Islamabad High Court (IHC) in a petition against Principal Information Officer (PIO) Rao Tehsin’s alleged involvement in Dawn leaks.
Justice Amir Farooq heard the petition on Wednesday. Senior Lawyer Waseem Sajjad appeared on Tehsin’s behalf. Advocate Idrees Ashraf assisted Waseem Sajjad in the case.
Establishment Division (ED) was unable to submit any reply according to the court’s order. Established Division said that Interior Minister is responsible for submitting reply not the ED and further said that they don’t have Dawn Leaks inquiry report. In response the court asked that if you don’t have report then how the court can order any charge sheet against Rao Tehseen.
Rao Tehseen was not made OSD, Establishment Division replied in response to Justice’s question. Justice Amir Farooq further said that you shouldn’t be playing with the case; otherwise court will question all other departments.
Court further inquired if the investigation against Rao Tehseen is underway, the ED said that the inquiry officer Younus Dhaka in registering petition against Rao Tehseen has excused of any inquiry against him and a summary will be sent very soon for the appointment of new inquiry officer.
Justice Amir said that according to the law the court cannot stop considering Rao Tehseen’s promotion. In reply the ED said that high powered board is not thinking about this for the time being. Justice Amir said that if Raao Tehseen has faulted he should be punished, otherwise don’t indulge revenge investigation.
The ED asked the court for more time to submit reply and court has given 7 days to complete inquiry. Further hearing is scheduled for Sep 14.
Mr Tehsin through his petition had sought a copy of the inquiry report so that he could know the exact nature of allegations levelled against him on the basis of which he was removed from his post.
On Oct 6, 2016, the news report was published in Dawn headlined ‘Act against militants or face international isolation, civilians tell military’. The federal government ordered a probe into the matter following tension between civil and military leadership. Consequently besides Mr Tehsin, the then information minister Pervez Rashid and the PM’s special assistant, Tariq Fatemi, lost their jobs.
In the light of the report prepared by the inquiry committee, the secretary to the prime minister issued directions on April 29, 2017 that “Rao Tehsin Ali Khan, the PIO of the Ministry of Information, shall be proceeded against (Efficiency and Discipline) Rules, 1973, on charges based on findings in the instant report”.
Later, the Establishment Division issued a notification relieving the petitioner of his duties and directing him to report to the division.
