Contract extension request rejected

Law minister opposes extension in contract of Neelum-Jhelum Company CEO

ISLAMABAD:

The government has refused to extend service contract of Neelum-Jhelum Hydropower Company (NJHPC) chief executive officer following opposition from the Establishment Division and law minister.

The CEO had been holding acting charge of the company since 2016, which was illegal as the then prime minister had approved his service extension by bypassing the cabinet.

Recently, the Ministry of Water Resources tabled a case before the cabinet for not only regularising his services but also extending his services for one more year, which sparked reservations from cabinet members.

Sources told The Express Tribune that the cabinet took a serious note, saying despite repeated instructions to the contrary, cases for extension and acting/ additional charge were still being submitted. It emphasised that such cases should be brought under compelling circumstances only. The law and justice minister pointed out that the Supreme Court’s judgement in the Mustafa Impex case placed a bar on the federal government for giving ex-post facto approval.

However, the Ministry of Water Resources pointed out that the NJHPC board of directors was of the view that services of the current CEO, who was experienced and well conversant with the pending issues, should continue beyond September 30, 2020.

The cabinet was told that since the CEO’s appointment was made without approval of the federal government, it needed to be regularised with ex-post facto approval from the date of assumption of charge with effect from September 4, 2016 to date.

A summary was sent to the Establishment Division for comments. It supported ex-post facto regularisation of the temporary charge but opposed the CEO’s reappointment for one year for being not executable. In view of the circumstances, the Ministry of Water Resources submitted proposals for consideration of the cabinet.

It suggested that the assignment of charge of NJHPC CEO to Brigadier (Retd) Muhammad Zareen, on September 4, 2016, notified by the Establishment Division after approval of the prime minister, may be regularised from the date of assumption of charge till June 30, 2020 with age relaxation, as recommended by the NJHPC board in its 51st meeting held on June 2, 2020.

The Ministry of Water Resources said in compliance with the directive of prime minister on April 24, 2020, the case was identified as unapproved by the federal government, which warranted ex-post facto regularisation.

The Water and Power Development Authority (Wapda) requested for extension in the temporary charge for one year with effect from July 1, 2020 till June 30, 2021 with relaxation in the age limit.

The cabinet considered the summary titled “Appointment made without approval of the federal government - regularisation of the appointment of chief executive officer of Neelum-Jhelum Hydropower Company” dated September 24, 2020, and gave directive to revisit the proposal in light of advice of the minister for law and justice.

The post of NJHPC CEO fell vacant on September 2, 2016 after the resignation of CEO Lieutenant General (Retd) Muhammad Zubair.

Additional charge of the post was assigned to Engineer Brigadier (Retd) Muhammad Zareen, the then adviser to Wapda on northern areas projects, on September 4, 2016 by the Wadpa chairman/ NJHPC board chairman, after getting nod of the then prime minister during briefings on the hydroelectric power project’s slow execution.

It was pointed out that implementation of the project kicked off in 2008 with the completion date of November 30, 2016. PC-I of the project, however, had been revised four times since its inception.

The change in top management of the company had been necessitated due to a variety of reasons, which included huge overruns in terms of cost and time besides power generation loss. The summary revealed that the CEO, on the date of assumption of charge, was above 67 years of age. However, following approval of the premier, the Establishment Division issued a notification on May 9, 2017 relating to the assignment of CEO charge.

In the meantime, Wapda continued its headhunting drive through multiple sources besides advertising the post in the international and national media for a suitable replacement but to no avail.

It was constrained to manage the project with the help of incumbent CEO, who made the project operational in April 2018 with completion cost being less than Rs430 billion against approved cost of Rs506 billion. Earlier, the Neelum-Jhelum project was facing multiple issues of technical, administrative and financial nature.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 11^th, 2020.

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