CDA member ‘granted extension against rules’

[LahoreEstate]

Monday, March 30, 2009
by Mobarik A Virk

Islamabad

The Capital Development Authority (CDA), in stark violation of the laid down guidelines approved by the federal cabinet aimed at good governance, sought extension in service after retirement for Member (Environment) Mazhar Hussain, which surprisingly has been granted by the prime minister.

Mazhar Hussain retired from service in the CDA on March 13, 2009. However due to some absolutely inexplicable reasons, the civic body moved a ‘request’ to the cabinet secretary for granting an extension of two years in his service after his retirement.

Officials in the CDA, on condition of anonymity, told ‘The News’ that the request moved by the civic body through its Chairman Tariq Mahmood Khan, to the Cabinet Division should have been forwarded to the Establishment Division for ‘proper action’.

However, when contacted, CDA Chairman Tariq Mahmood Khan told ‘The News’ that as the civic body is under direct control of the Cabinet Division it was not necessary to send the case to the Establishment Division.

Sources in the CDA told ‘The News’ that a particular person, who is wielding a lot of influence in the affairs of the authority these days, openly proclaiming his ‘very close and personal’ association with the president of Pakistan, took the file directly to the Cabinet Division and from there to the Prime Minister’s Secretariat and that too ‘By Hand’!

In the Prime Minister’s Secretariat the concerned people also found it difficult to resist the pressure being mounted by that particular individual who kept persisting an immediate and ‘favourable action’ on the file despite being pointed out that the file should have come through the Establishment Division but eventually acceded to his ‘demand’.

But the concerned officials in the Prime Minister’s Secretariat did left a catch while capitulating to the pressure as instead of granting the requested ‘two-year extension in service’ they made it ‘extension granted till further orders’!

When asked as to what was so compelling the authority that it had to seek an extension in service for the retired member (environment), the CDA chairman said that there were certain projects underway as well as the performance of the retired officer was good, so it was felt that it would benefit the authority.

But, he added, that this was not such a pressing issue as there are quite a few highly competent and qualified officers in the CDA who are capable of handling any task. “Secondly,” the chairman told ‘The News’, “People do enjoy a certain amount of influence that they use for their own advantage in such situations. But I would say that the summary for grant of extension to the officer was sent through my office, under my own signatures. But I would also like to make it abundantly clear that the extension granted to the officer is not for any specific time frame. It is for ‘till further orders’ and that could be today or the day after tomorrow or any time in future.”

It is hardly a secret that Prime Minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani in one of the cabinet meetings that he chaired clearly directed that as a measure to bring about ‘good governance and transparency’ in the affairs of the government no extension or re-employment would be granted to the officers reaching the age of superannuation.

Even earlier, the Cabinet Secretariat, through a letter, has directed the Establishment Division that in terms of Section-14 of Civil Servants Act 1973 and the Employment after Retirement Policy and Procedure spelt out in establishment secretary’s letter, the re-employment on contract is restricted to few cases where the expertise of the civil servant is still required by the government but requires the approval of the prime minister. But in the case of Mazhar Hussain, the retired member (environment) of the CDA, none of the above applies!

http://www.thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=169946