A question of merit: PHC seeks replies on ‘illegal’ appointment of PDA DG

Petitioner says deserving officers were overlooked

PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court issued notices on Friday to the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa chief secretary, secretary for local government and director generals of the Military Land and Cantonment Rawalpindi and Peshawar Development Authority (PDA) over the “illegal” appointment of the PDA chief.

PDA Building Control Agency Deputy Director Khan Afzal challenged PDA director general Muhammad Saleem Hassan Wattoo’s appointment. He said it was in violation of rules and regulations.

The petition was filed through Advocate Khalid Anwar and was being heard by the division bench of justices Qaiser Rasheed and Ibrahim Khan. When the hearing commenced, Anwar said the PDA DG, a BS-19 officer, was inducted in the then income tax department, now known as the Inland Revenue Service, on April 19, 2004.

He was later promoted to BS-18 on August 18, 2009, while he was on deputation with the Military Land and Cantonments Groups. He said Wattoo was posted as DG PDA on a deputation basis through a notification issued on August 9, 2016. He argued that the new DG was a junior officer and lacked the required experience of 17 years in BS-17 or above.



The petition mentioned the criteria for the appointment of a DG was that he or she must be a Grade-20 officer and have held the position of either director finance, legal, planning/Building Control Agency or Technical Local Area Authority.

He argued that the chief secretary misused his authority by appointing Wattoo as the DG. His appointment should therefore be declared null and void.

Misuse of authority

The petitioner also approached the PHC against Wattoo’s alleged misuse of authority. His counsel said the DG purchased a 4x4 vehicle without prior sanction and budget approval of the competent authority. The lawyer added the official spent Rs10 million on the renovation of his residence without approval. He highlighted that this was a sheer misuse of authority as the director general was not entitled to use a vehicle over 1,300cc.

The petition said that spending of public money for personal luxuries was not covered nor allowed by the rules.

“Besides, rules were amended for officers appointed on deputation in PDA and they had a 2% quota in plot allotment.” The petitioner said an Android mobile device worth Rs95,000 had been purchased for the DG.

He also alleged the PDA paid Rs20 million to one Farmanullah of NesPak without providing any details of the reason. Besides, the petitioner said the respondent paid Rs7 million to a blacklisted company to arrange advertisements in the media for the auction of a commercial plot.

“The auction never took place and the money was wasted,” the writ said. It added the DG spent Rs48 million on the renovation, furnishing and purchase of furniture for his office, while the tender was awarded without competition. The bench, after hearing the arguments, ordered the respondents to file replies.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 10^th, 2016.