LAHORE: Punjab has named a five-member committee to choose the next director general of its Forensic Science Authority, a panel on which no member sits by virtue of forensic expertise, reviving questions about a 2025 law that dropped the requirement for the post’s holder to be a forensic scientist.
The Home Department notified the committee under Section 7(1) of the Punjab Forensic Science Authority Act, 2025, after the provincial cabinet approved it on Oct 11, a department spokesperson said on Tuesday.
The chairman of the Planning and Development Board will head the panel. Its members are the vice chancellors of Government College University Lahore and the Information Technology University, Industries Secretary Dr Muhammad Omar Masood and the director general of the Punjab Agriculture, Food and Drug Authority.
The committee will scrutinise applications, shortlist and interview candidates and recommend the most suitable one to the government. The authority’s acting director general will provide administrative and secretarial support. The notification did not give an application deadline or a timeframe.
The government merged the old Punjab Forensic Science Agency into the new authority in October 2026. Its long-serving head, Dr Muhammad Amjad, stepped down so that the selection could be seen as open, and a spokesperson said he may apply. Special Secretary Home Faisal Farid holds interim charge.
Under the 2025 law, the authority is run by a board chaired by the chief minister, and the director general no longer needs to be a forensic expert and serves at the chief minister’s pleasure. Lawyers warned at the time that this could weaken the body’s independence. The government said the change would widen the field to include senior police officers and others, and that Rs8 billion had been set aside to modernise its laboratories.
The Lahore laboratory has built a reputation as one of the country’s most capable, and its DNA and digital evidence now regularly decides bail and trial outcomes, as in a recent Lahore High Court ruling in an Okara child rape case.
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