From Abid Usman
LAHORE: On Friday, the Punjab government passed a controversial piece of legislation that dissolved the Punjab Forensic Science Agency (PFSA) and established a new body which will be directly overseen by the chief minister and primarily staffed by bureaucrats.
The move is seen as an attempt by the provincial government to consolidate greater control over forensic science services in the province.
The Punjab Forensic Science Authority Act 2025 was tabled in the Punjab Assembly by Punjab Minister for Finance Mujtaba Shuja ur Rehman on February 12. It was subsequently passed on March 14.
The law establishes a new forensics body, known as the Punjab Forensic Science Authority, that will replace the existing PFSA as well as repeal the Punjab Forensic Science Agency Act 2007, which previously governed the agency’s structure and operations.
Headquartered in Lahore, the PFSA was a specialised agency tasked with providing forensic science services to law-enforcement agencies and offering expert testimony in criminal courts.
Under the 2007 law, the PFSA was led by a director general.
The new legislation, however, places the Punjab Forensic Science Authority under the direct control of Chief Minister Punjab Maryam Nawaz Sharif, who will chair the body, with 13 additional members appointed to oversee its operations.
The 13 members will be headed by a vice-chairperson, as well as the secretaries of various provincial departments — home, finance, law, planning and public prosecution. Additional members will include the inspector general of police or his/her nominee, a director general and five experts in the fields of criminology, molecular sciences, pathology and cybercrime analysis.
One of the most notable changes is that the 2007 law required the director general to be a qualified expert in forensic sciences. But the 2025 legislation has done away with this requirement.
The law further states that the director general will serve “at the pleasure of the chief minister,” with the terms of his/her appointment determined by the chief minister. Under the previous law, the director general could only be removed if misconduct was proven, amongst other things.
The new law stipulates that, in the event of a vacancy in the director general’s position, a bureaucrat from the Pakistan Administrative Services (PAS) or the Provincial Management Services (PMS) with a rank of BS-20 will be appointed.
