ISLAMABAD: In yet another attempt to send back the officers appointed in different government offices on the deputation basis to their parent departments, Pakistan Tehreek e Insaaf (PTI) led federal government has asked all the ministries to submit complete record of all such officers.
A senior official of Prime Minister Secretariat told The News Today that the matter was discussed during meeting of federal cabinet on Wednesday with Prime Minister Imran Khan in chair.
If implemented, besides many other ministries, some top officers working in federal ministry of water resources, ministry of energy (power/petroleum) division, are also likely to be affected by this decision.
A numbers of officers are appointed on deputation basis to earn lucrative perks and privileges in federal ministries. Most of these posting are made on political basis or influential bureaucrats take advantage of this facility. Once appointed for a specific period, many officer who come on deputation in lucrative posts continue getting extensions.
One such example of this administrative malpractice in ministry of water resources is, Syed Maher Ali Shah, a former employee of semi government company National Engineering Services Pakistan (NESPAK). He was appointed in ministry of water and power in Feb 2015 and has been enjoying lucrative perks and privileges from ministry and its attached departments.
Sources in Establishment Division said Maher Ali Shah was appointed as Senior Joint Secretary, but his deputation period had ended in April 2019.
Sources further revealed that Mr. Shah used his strong links in bureaucracy at the highest level during the last term of Pakistan Muslim League -Nawaz.
‘’Shah was appointed in ministry on Feb 2015 on the directions of former federal secretary Younas Dhaga; however the notification of appointment of officer was issued after a long delay of one year in April 2016, with no justification’’ an official privy to the matter said requesting not to be named.
Shah is holding many caps at the same time. He is working as multi-task officer on different direct and indirect posts including Senior Joint Secretary (Water Resources), Ad-hoc commissioner of Indus Waters Pakistan for last couple of years, member Board of Directors Neelum-Jehlum Hydropower Project Company (NJHPC), Secretary Finance of special committee for Diamer-Basha and Mohmand Dam projects, Project Director of W-CAP project funded by World Bank etc.
He is continuing at the post despite allegations that Shah failed to perform as Commissioner (Ad-Hoc) Indus Waters Pakistan in settling down the conflict between Pakistan and India over the decision of arbitration court on controversial Kishan Ganga hydropower project on Jehlum River having capacity of 330MW hydel power generation.
Similarly, World Bank (WB) funded capacity building and system automation project named W-CAP also went into hot water as WB in its report expressed only a ‘partial satisfaction’ over the track record of W-CAP project’s implementation.
Similarly, a senior joint secretary Zargham Ishaq Khan has been serving in ministry of energy (power division) on deputation for last 11 years, another officer Hassan Mehmood has been serving on senior position in attached department of ministry of energy (Petroleum Division) etc.
As per rules, an officer can remain on deputation for a maximum for five years. On completion of this term, both the borrowing and the lending organizations need to ensure immediate repatriation of the officer who is sent on deputation.
In case it is not possible to repatriate a person to his parent organization for compelling reasons, the case has to be referred to the Establishment Division before the expiry of the allowed five year term, explaining the circumstances due to which immediate repatriation is not possible and the measures which were taken to obtain a replacement.
Some of these officials on deputations were merged with the office management group (OMG) some years back, prompting the OMG officers to seek relief from the court for reverting back the decision. OMG officers contended that non-cadre section officers of provincial governments cannot be inducted into the federal government.
The Supreme Court (SC) in its judgment in April 2017 ordered the federal government to repatriate all the officers working on deputation in regular service cadre OMG.
PTI government has decided to send back all such officers to their parent departments, however, it is yet to be seen if the incumbent regime succeeds in implementing its decision.
Successive governments in the past had been taking such decisions. They could hardly implement this policy and most of influential officers who have strong backing in political circles and power corridors, either stay on their posts or they only switch to some other lucrative position.
There are many more officers serving in country’s anti-corruption watchdog, the National Accountability Bureau (NAB and dozens of other departments, who fall in the same category.
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