It is hoped that the Auditor General ensures recovery of the amount already paid to the IT consultant
KARACHI: The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) hired a retired air commodore as IT consultant in January 2012 without first issuing an open advertisement for the post. The remuneration for this post was Rs550,000 per month plus free boarding, lodging, transport, fuel and air travel. He also had 14 subordinates working for him. This continued till January 2014. An audit observed that since the consultant was still an employee of the Pakistan Air Force on LPR (leave pending retirement), his hiring was irregular and caused a loss of Rs22.5 million to the CAA.
Surprisingly on January 1, 2015, the CAA published a tender notice “Request for proposal” in leading newspapers for IT consultancy services from firms/companies or individuals, who possess rich experience in the area of aviation with condition of minimum 25 years’ experience. The advertisement is totally silent on qualification, since in any such hiring, the qualification of a candidate is as important, if not more, as experience. The above-referred advertisement is tailor-made for the person who was hired in January 2012 and seems to have been done to regularlise his appointment. He has no IT related education but does have 25 years’ experience, which is also the average service period of air force officers. Having caused a loss of Rs22.5 million to the national exchequer due to disregard for rules and regulations, heads should have rolled but the opposite seems to have happened at the CAA.
It is hoped that the Auditor General ensures recovery of the amount already paid to the IT consultant and takes notice of this present tailor-made advertisement/tender especially designed to suit a particular individual. It is also hoped that the CAA’s Board of Directors shall take note of this gross irregularity and take appropriate action.
Mukhtar Ahmed
Published in The Express Tribune, January 11th, 2015.
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