The Senate Standing Committee on Petroleum has expressed concern over Sui Northern Gas Pipeline Limited’s (SNGPL) refusal to follow government rules for recruitments. The committee said that SNGPL, whose majority shares are owned by the government, is required to follow the government’s provincial quota system for hiring employees.
“In the past 45 years, the company has not followed the provincial quota system for recruitments,” SNGPL’s Managing Director (MD) Rasheed Lone briefed the committee at the parliament house here on Saturday. He said that SNGPL has its own rules of recruitment and is “not bound to follow government policies”.
The quota system, he said, has not been followed as it was opposed by the company’s Board of Directors (BoDs).
The committee expressed displeasure over SNGPL’s justification for not following government rules. It directed the ministry of petroleum to provide SNGPL’s complete recruitment records for the past three years, along with province-wise breakup.
Senator Nayyar Bokhari said, “When over 60 per cent of the company’s shares are state owned, there is no question of bypassing government rules.”
He said that nine of the 13 board of directors of SNGPL are nominees of the federal government, who, by opposing the quota system, are “themselves disobeying government rules”.
Addressing Lone, SNGPL’s MD, Bokhari said, “In what capacity have you been attending committee meetings if SNGPL is not bound to follow government policies.”
He directed the MD to provide complete recruitment details of the company as well as a detailed profile of its BoDs in the next hearing.
The committee will recommend serious action against responsible officials of SNGPL and the ministry if they failed to satisfy the committee’s grievances in the next meeting, he added.
Published in The Express Tribune, April 4th, 2011.
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