PHOTO: INP
He could have faced suspension but was saved by Senator Mushahid Hussain Sayed who objected to directly recommending the reprimand and instead called for setting up a four-member committee to probe allegations.
The nine-member Local Government Commission (LGC) —set up by the federal government under the interior ministry for improving the state of affairs of Islamabad’s local government — met on Thursday to review the performance of the Islamabad Metropolitan Corporation (IMC) Mayor Aziz.
LGC Chairman Ali Nawaz Awan — who is a special assistant to the prime minister on Capital Development Authority (CDA) Affairs —presided over Thursday’s meeting. Commission members including Sayed, Tayyaba Ibrahim, Syed Ali Bukhari, MNA Raja Khurram Nawaz, CDA officer Sayeda Shufiq and others at the Convention Centre.
The panel approved a decision by the CDA to cancel the solid waste management contract awarded by the IMC and formed a committee to decide a method for preparing the IMC's rules of business. A report in this regard was sought at the next meeting of the commission.
Curiously, Mayor Aziz has already moved the Islamabad High Court (IHC) over CDA’s alleged intrusion in IMC affairs, particularly, cancelling of the waste management deal.
Reviewing the mayor’s performance, the commission noted that Aziz had failed to notify IMC’s rules of business ever since the local government was elected in 2015. Moreover, Aziz was accused of abusing his powers by keeping more than 12 government employees at his residence as his personal servants.
Moreover, he was accused of appointing an engineer in Municipal Administration Directorate (DMA) apart from deputing a basic pay scale (BPS) grade 17 officer of the fire department in the DMA against the rules.
The commission further alleged that Aziz had illegally deputed an engineer on the post of Parks director-general while retaining an officer on his government post even though their tenure had ended.
The panel further claimed that the mayor had overlooked established procedures while deputing and transferring people in the IMC based on personal choices and whims.
The mayor was also accused of ignoring directives from the parliamentary committee on interior ministry regarding appointments and transfers of IMC employees.
The mayor, LGC alleged, offered assistance to a private housing society to run a publicity campaign even though the CDA had declared the society as illegal and had issued advertisements warning the public against investing in the society.
In this regard, evidence was provided by the planning wing which had officially communicated to the mayor to stop the private housing society from continuing its campaign because it had been deemed as illegal.
Even though the IMC did not have the powers to operate its finances, the LGC noted that it did not stop Aziz from opening an account in the Bank of Punjab in the name of the corporation to receive government funds and conduct transactions from it.
The commission blamed him for releasing Rs130 million to the sanitation department despite lacking the authority to do so.
Aziz also awarded a sanitation contract for Sector I-8 to a firm in violation of Public Procurement Regulatory Authority (PPRA) rules, the LGC alleged and recommended suspending the mayor.
LGC can only recommend the federal government to suspend the mayor or any other member of the local bodies of the capital, but it cannot remove these elected public representatives from their seats.
However, Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) Senator Sayed argued that the mayor must be suspended once a body probe and confirms these allegations.
Awan, who served as a Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) councillor in the IMC under Aziz before being elected as an MNA from the federal capital, agreed to form a four-member committee. The committee will comprise commission members including PTI MNA from Islamabad Nawaz, Senator Sayed, technocrat Bukhari and CDA officer Shufiq. Based on the findings of the probe, a list of allegations and recommendations against the mayor will be sent to the interior ministry for further action.
Aziz could not be contacted because he is currently out of the country to perform Umra.
Published in The Express Tribune, February 14th, 2020.
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