Hajj balloting: CDGK to send 64 employees on free Hajj

CDGK does not fall under ‘ban on official Hajj’ category, says DO Khursheed Shah.

KARACHI:

The City District Government Karachi (CDGK) has announced that it will send 64 of its employees to Saudi Arabia for an all-expenses-paid Hajj. The decision has been made despite the fact that the CDGK is going through a severe financial crunch, and has not paid employees and officers for one month.

The lucky staffers were selected in a ballot, which was held at Civic Centre on Tuesday. Executive District Officer (EDO) Community Development Department (CDD) Rehana Saif, City Administrator’s Special Secretary Rasheed Jamal and other officers and employees attended the ceremony. The minority and religious affairs department, a sub-office of the CDD, conducted the lucky draw.

A total of 1,178 employees from grades 1 to 15 applied, and 320 applications were submitted by employees and officers of grade 16 and above. Of the 64 employees and officers selected, 45 employees are of grades 1 to  15 and 19 are officers of grade 16 and above.

The CDGK’s decision to send employees for the all expenses paid Hajj comes just days after a Supreme Court ruling, which bans employeees from performing Hajj that is paid for by their departments.

However, District Officer (DO) Headquarters CDGK Khursheed Shah said that the Supreme Court ruling does not apply to the CDGK, and the issue has been discussed and a letter sent to the federal government for clarification.

When asked about the federal government’s response, he said he did not know if it has been received or not. He added that the CDGK has allocated funds for free of cost Hajj, and each successful applicant would be paid in accordance to amounts allocated by the federal government.

The news has been met with scepticism by several CDGK employees. “The ruling of the Supreme Court is just a few days old, and if the City Administrator wants to send employees and officers for Hajj at the CDGK’s expense, then he would know better about its consequences,” commented an EDO.

He told The Express Tribune that the Hajj balloting was discussed in a meeting a few days ago, and its financial and legal repercussions were also reviewed in light of the Supreme Court’s ruling. Labelling the decision as ‘strange’, the EDO said that he had no idea how the top officials at the CDGK would deal with such repercussions.

According to a district officer in the CDGK’s administration block, the balloting would cause severe financial and legal problems for the CDGK as it is in direct conflict with the Supreme Court’s ruling.

Another well-placed officer said that the CDGK is already experiencing drastic financial retrenchments, and the salaries of employees and officers have already been delayed by one month. He added that it would cost more than Rs30 million to meet Hajj expenses, which, he said, is ‘an impossible to honour liability’.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 5^th, 2011.