Notification replacing municipal commissioner stirs hornet’s nest

Dr Asghar Abbas was performing responsibilities despite having no position

KARACHI: A new Pandora’s Box has been opened with the issuance of a notification related to the appointment of the city’s municipal commissioner by the chief secretary.



The Sindh government’s incompetence has been highlighted due to this notification, as has the extent to which illegal appointments in the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) are made.

Chief Secretary Rizwan Memon issued a notification a few days ago according to which Syed Saifur Rehman was to be appointed municipal commissioner while the incumbent municipal commissioner, Muhammad Nawaz Naseem, was to report to the services, general administration and coordination department.

Interestingly, for the last six months the additional responsibility of the municipal commissioner was being performed by Dr Asghar Abbas which gave rise to a number of questions on how, if Naseem was the municipal commissioner according to the Sindh government, Abbas was performing his responsibilities.



According to sources, Abbas is extremely close to the city’s mayor and was playing the role of a middleman between the Sindh government and mayor, due to which both authorities were silent on the issue. Sources have said that the Sindh government was facing difficulties when the head of the judicial commission on water and sanitation, Justice (retd) Amir Hani Muslim gave orders to remove Abbas from his post due to his incompetence and negligent attitude.

Sources also disclosed that a new Pandora’s Box has been opened after the issuance of the notification by the Sindh government and questions have been raised as to how Abbas was appointed on such an important post and what the legal status of the documents he signed during the time period during which he acted as municipal commissioner is.

While the government had notified the appointment of a new municipal commissioner, it has failed to notify the appointment of a new financial adviser. For the last so many months Abbas was also performing the additional duties of financial adviser in the absence of a proper notification.