Govt mulls over appointing Awan as CDA’s ‘honorary’ chief

CDA spokesperson says the decision has yet to be officially communicated

ISLAMABAD: To get a stronger grip on the civic affairs of the federal capital, the government is apparently mulling a move to install its own man at the head of the chief civic authority in the city.

In a move that appears to have come out of the playbook of its predecessor, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), the federal government has apparently decided that it will replace the Afzal Lateef as the chairman of the Capital Development Authority (CDA).

According to sources, the federal cabinet is mulling a plan to install Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on CDA Affairs and a Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) MNA from NA-53 Islamabad Ali Nawaz Awan as the head of the civic authority.

The assignment is likely to be an additional, honorary post.

The federal government had at the beginning of the year issued an ordinance to amend the CDA Ordinance 1960, to amend certain provisions surrounding the chairman of the civic body.

The government had amended section 6 in subsection 2 of the ordinance to allow the government to appoint a chairman, vice chairman and financial advisor from the pool of civil servants of the federal government who are in basic pay scale (BPS) grade-20 or above. The original ordinance had listed that these officers could only be appointed from existing members of the CDA’s board.

Moreover, the federal government amended section 6(3) of the ordinance which reduced the CDA chairman and board member’s tenure from five and four years respectively to just three years.

The amendments also omitted clause (f) in section 8 to protect members of the CDA’s board from being disqualified in the event they are disqualified temporarily from the membership of any elected body.

The ordinance was due to expire in May but was extended by the then parliament for another 120 days on May 9. Subsequently, the government appointed BPS-21 officer Afzal Lateef on September 1, just days before the ordinance lapsed.

As per CDA rules, an honorary chairman can be appointed from the private sector or the national assembly.

The CDA rules further state that the government can invite applications for the post of CDA chairman after proper advertisements are published inviting application of candidates and candidates are shortlisted after a transparent process. These candidates will undergo further scrutiny by a special selection committee. After shortlisting, one of the top three candidates from the panel will be approved by the prime minister as the CDA chairman.

However, sources say that the process of appointing a chairman from the private sector will take a lot of time. Therefore Awan is seen as the best option to take over as an honorary chairman.

Despite repeated attempts, Awan could not be contacted.

However, a CDA spokesperson said that he could not comment on the matter unless it has been officially communicated.

Late last year, the Islamabad High Court (IHC) had ousted Islamabad Metropolitan Corporation (IMC) Mayor Sheikh Anser Aziz from his additional post of CDA chairman.