Ministry of Climate Change mulls action against IWMB chief

Dr Rehman terms allegations “fraudulent”

ISLAMABAD: The Ministry of Climate Change has decided to take legal action against the chairman of the Islamabad Wildlife Management Board (IWMB) for his alleged involvement in administrative malpractices and financial irregularities which were pointed out by the federal audit authorities, officials privy to the development said.

The board’s chairman, Dr Anisur Rehman, however, has termed the allegations of the ministry as “fraudulent”.

After examining the expenditure of public funds by the Islamabad Wildlife Management Board (IWMB) - which is responsible for the protection, preservation, conservation, and management of wildlife and setting up a national park in the Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) - for the fiscal year 2018-19, the federal audit had raised serious objections on making irregular payments worth Rs22.328 million for various purposes without following the set procedures for the utilisation of public money.

Details of the expenditure show that vehicles were purchased worth Rs8.101 million without obtaining a no-objection certificate (NOC) from the Finance Division, irregular rental of vehicles for official use worth Rs942,032, suspicious payment on account of fuel for rented vehicles worth Rs90,000, irregular payment to a board member worth Rs713,684, irregular payment to a firm with a suspended or non-operative NTN worth Rsl.072 million, irregular procurement in piecemeal to avoid tendering process of Rs528,914, irregular appointment of operations manager and admin assistant whereby creating loss of Rs270,000, suspicious payment worth Rs1.111 million to a former operations manager, over-payment of Rs314,700 to an admin officer as salary, Rs1.215 million in overpayments made to a former operations manager for salary, irregular payment worth Rs460,000 as consultancy charges, irregular appointment of wildlife watcher in Basic Pay Scale (BPS) grade-9 worth Rs157,200, failure to deposit government funds worth Rs400,000 in the federal treasury, delays in demarcating boundary wall of Margalla Hills National Park (MHNP) and encroachment in the park.

The audit authorities also pointed to mal-administration and misuse of authority by the IWMB chairman in recruitments on 26 vacant positions against government instructions.

The climate change ministry subsequently issued a letter to the IWMB Chairman Dr Rehman on March 31, 2020, asking him to respond to the objections raised by the federal audit authorities about the financial and administrative irregularities and malpractices within 14 days.

“Now the ministry is mulling possible legal measures regarding the financial and administrative irregularities,” said a ministry spokesperson, confirming that the IWMB chairman has yet to officially respond to the notice.

When contacted, the IWMB chairman termed the allegations of the climate change ministry as “fraudulent”.

Dr Rehman, a dentist by profession, argued that the position of IWMB chairman is honourary. He, however, admitted that he had a non-governmental organisation (NGO) - the Himalayan Wildlife Foundation (HWF) - which has been working for the past 30 years to improve national parks in the country.

He further conceded that some staffers from his NGO were hired to establish the IWMB in 2015.

Responding to a question about conflict of interest, he said that he was appointed as the chairman of the board because he had experience in improving national parks.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 22^nd, 2020.