I just hope that I am proved wrong and that those appointed by the minister will at least be appointed on merit.
KARACHI: This is with reference to the story “Railway Ministry: 238 legal advisers shown the door” (June 19). I was overjoyed reading the headline of this news report because I am of the firm opinion that to run institutions like the Railways, or indeed any other institution, you need honest, adequately and relevantly qualified, capable and experienced administrators. There also needs to be a proper system of checks and balances maintained by an independent internal audit department reporting at the highest level, and making sure that things are done strictly in accordance with the prescribed procedures as laid down in the procedures manual, instead of having an army of legal advisers. Also, observing what their “advice” had done to the railways, they needed to be shown the door, followed by many others.
However, I was a little concerned after reading the text of the report, as I learnt that the reason for the advisers’ removal was that they had allegedly been appointed on political basis and that the railway minister intended to replace them, which would perhaps, mean one set of political appointees replaced by another set of political appointees, with the only change being the party appointing them. I just hope that I am proved wrong and that those appointed by the minister will at least be appointed on merit.
SRH Hashmi
Published in The Express Tribune, June 21st, 2013.
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