Ousted HESCO boss stopped at company’s gate

Hamid says got stay order against his removal

HYDRABAD:

Who is legally supposed to head the poor performing Hyderabad Electric Supply Company? The controversy, involving two claimants to the post of chief executive officer, took a turn on Monday when the company's sacked CEO Rehan Hamid allegedly tried to retake administrative control but the security guards barred his entrance.

Hamid arrived at the office when a meeting of the National Assembly's sub-committee for energy division was underway with the new CEO Noor Ahmed Soomro representing the company at the meeting. The security guards and the local police, however, did not allow Hamid to even enter the outer main gate.

"I came to attend the meeting but I was stopped by an illegally appointed person," he lamented while talking to the media and showing the Dec 1 order of the Sindh High Court (SHC). The top court of the province, according to Hamid, has issued stay order against the notifications regarding his removal and appointment of Soomro.

The ousted CEO of HESCO said he came to take charge of his office on Monday, but he came to know about the sub-committee's meeting which he wanted to attend as the company's top official. He questioned the police and the guards to explain who directed them to deploy at the gate.

"I am the authority and only I can call you for the security," he retorted when the police told him that the company's authority has asked for their deployment.

Showing what he said was a certified copy of the Dec 1 court's order, he said as per the law only he was the legal CEO.

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Hamid accused the whole administration of HESCO, the security and the police for providing protection to Soomro, reiterating that only he can legally call the police or give instructions to the security officers. He warned them all that they were doing contempt of court.

He said he would again implead before the court that it's order, which he claimed he had sent to all the top officials of HESCO on Dec 2. Hamid took the charge as a maiden private sector CEO of the public power utility company on June 1. He was replaced with Soomro on November 26, less than six months after his appointment. He said he was in Canada on leave to attend his daughter's wedding when the government gave him the sack.

During his administration the two unprecedented incidents of transformer explosions occurred in Hyderabad, claiming 13 lives. The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf's leader and the opposition leader in the Sindh Assembly also wrote a letter to the federal government complaining against alleged corruption, inefficiency and political leanings of Hamid.

An official of HESCO and a member of the company's board of directors told The Express Tribune that the BoD ratified the government's decision of firing Hamid and appointing Soomro during its meeting on November 28. The move is being cited as a legal cover for the incumbent's position.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 7^th, 2021.