Irregular appointment: NAB rules flouted to post Shakeel as Hajj DG

If an inquiry is pending against a government official, he cannot be posted elsewhere, experts say.

ISLAMABAD: Former Hajj director-general (DG) Rao Shakeel Ahmed was appointed by circumventing service rules after the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) filed a reference against him in an accountability court, The Express Tribune has learnt.

Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani had designated Shakeel as the Hajj DG, Jeddah.

Shakeel is currently in custody of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) on charges of misappropriation in the Hajj. The FIA has submitted a 35-page report to the Supreme Court, which details the irregularities in Shakeel’s appointment.

According to NAB rules, if an inquiry is initiated against a government official, his career progression comes to a halt and he cannot be posted. However, NAB is still waiting for a response from the Federal Public Service Commission (FPSC) on its request for recommendations for promotion of officials who are being investigated by the bureau. The letter was forwarded in April 2006.

The bureau had initiated an inquiry against Rao Shakeel in June 2001 and filed a reference against him in an accountability court in Lahore. While the references against Shakeel were still pending, he was promoted on from Grade 19 to 20 on January 25, 2005. Later, Interior Minister Rehman Malik also ordered to remove Shakeel’s name from the Exit Control List (ECL).
The Special Selection Board, in a meeting chaired by the Cabinet secretary on July 20, 2009, recommended three names of grade 20 officers for the post of Hajj DG in Jeddah. These names were Nayyar Mehmood, Sajjad Haider and Rao Shakeel. NAB Lahore requested the establishment division to omit Shakeel’s name as various references had been filed against him. But the division did not oblige, according to a statement signed by the Joint Secretary of the Establishment Division Raja Hassan Abbas.

Flouting all rules and regulations, on the prime minister’s directive, Iftikhar Hassan Gilani of the establishment division issued the notification of Shakeel’s appointment as Hajj DG in September 2009. Shakeel replaced former Hajj DG Shahid Khan, who had not yet completed his tenure in Saudi Arabia. No reason was given for Khan’s removal from his post.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 13^th, 2011.