SKAA allegedly violates court orders regarding promotions

CM's special assistant acting as chairperson of the authority

HYDERABAD: In an apparent violation of the judgments of the Supreme Court and Sindh High Court, the Sindh Katchi Abadi Authority (SKAA) has carried out a reshuffle in its department. Official sources have also pointed out the recent promotions of two officials to BPS-19 posts as another contravention of the apex court's order.

Both the office orders have been issued with the approval of the chief minister's special assistant Ghulam Murtaza Baloch in the capacity of chairperson of SKAA's governing body. However, according to the Sindh Katchi Abadis Act, 1987, only the minister for katchi abadis can act as SKAA's chairperson. In his absence the authority remains vested in the CM.

For any other official below the rank of a provincial minister to act as chairperson of the SKAA, the government must issue a gazette notification..

Earlier this week the provincial government submitted an undertaking in the SHC in the case of Senator Saeed Ghani regarding the exercising of ministerial powers by the chief minister's advisers.

On December 6, 2016, SHC Chief Justice Sajjad Ali Shah's two-judge bench restrained Senator Ghani, who is the CM's adviser on labour and human resources, from acting as the executive head of the department. On December 29, the SHC issued a show cause notice to the chief secretary, warning of the initiation of contempt of court proceedings if the CM's advisers exercise executive powers.

Through an office order dated January 9, five officials, including two BPS-19 directors and three BPS-18 deputy directors, have been transferred to different posts. Among them, BPS-18 Muzafar Ali Shaikh and BPS-18 Imdad Ali Lashari have been transferred to Hyderabad and Nawabshah regions, which consist of nine and three districts respectively. Additionally, both of them have been given the BPS-19 charges to head the two regions in violation of the apex court's orders against own pay scale (OPS) posting.

SKAA secretary Nawaz Shaikh said the reshuffle has been done by SKAA director-general Khalid Chachar after Baloch's order. "Either the DG or special assistant [Baloch] can explain how these transfers and postings are lawful," he said.

Baloch and Chachar could not be contacted for their versions. "The approval of a department's minister or the CM is required for posting an official on a BPS-19 post. This rule has been violated in SKAA's recent reshuffle," said an official source.

SKAA's regional director of Hyderabad Muhammad Shaharyar Khan Afridi, a BPS-19 official with experience in the authority's human resource department, refused to hand over the charge to Shaikh on Thursday. He has also written a letter to SKAA's DG requesting him to clarify the legality of the order. "Has the apex court's order not been violated by giving charge of a BPS-19 post to a BPS-18 officer?" he asked.

Afridi also sought an explanation about compliance with the rules of transfers which allow three years tenure after a fresh posting. I have been transferred 14 times in last 13 years," he said.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 14^th, 2017.