Court order violation: 10 retired govt servants still employed by NAB

As many as 10 retired officers are still working on key posts which is a clear violation of Supreme Court’s verdict.

LAHORE: As many as 10 retired officers are still working on key posts, including the directors-general of the Sindh, Punjab and Rawalpindi cells of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB), which is a clear violation of the Supreme Court’s verdict regarding the reemployment of retired government servants, according to data obtained by The Express Tribune.

It is learnt that Justice (retd) Rana Zahid Mehmood, who was initially hired to head NAB’s offices in Rawalpindi, was later assigned the additional charge of the post of director-general Punjab.

Another retired judge Ali Nawaz Pirzada was also reemployed as the director-general of NAB, Sindh.

As many as eight other retired government servants, including Lt-Col (retd) Ghulam Jafar, Col (retd) Azad Khalid, Maj (retd) Abdul Ghafoor Bhatti, are still performing their duties in NAB’s offices in Islamabad (headquarters), Rawalpindi, Punjab, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and Sindh.

Meanwhile, NAB authorities have also not promoted six BS-20 officers to BS-21 despite clear orders of the Supreme Court and the Lahore High Court. Their promotion has been due for more than two years.

These officers include Brig (retd) Musadaq Abbasi, who is working as the acting director-general of the NAB, Khyber-Pakhtunkhawa and Group Captain (retd) Shamshair, director of the Investigation Wing of NAB, Punjab. Four others are performing their duties in NAB headquarters: Col (retd) Khursheed Alam, working as the acting director-general (HRM), Col (retd) Subah Sadiq Malik, working as the director (HRM), Col (retd) Siraj Naeem director-general of A&P and Col (retd) Shahzad Bhatti, working as director finance.

On a petition filed by Col (retd) Subah Sadiq Malik, the Supreme Court ordered the chairman NAB to preside over the promotion board’s meeting till July 7 or 15 last year, but the authorities have so far evaded the order by taking refuge in the lack of quorum of the board.

When a petition was filed by Group Captain (retd) Shamshair, the Lahore High Court also ordered the NAB chairperson to ensure the promotion board would hold its meeting by November 30 last year. Although the NAB authorities agreed that the petitioner’s claim was legal and genuine, this meeting has not yet been held.

NAB’s spokesperson Sheraz Latif is now abroad and another staffer of the bureau’s media wing suggested that Chief of Staff Brig (retd) Ashfaq was the only man authorised to comment on this issue. Despite repeated attempts, he could not be reached for comments.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 24^th, 2011.