Transfer orders of two female officers posted at Hyderabad Development Authority (HDA) have turned out to be forged. The letters were issued on a public holiday.
HDA director general has cancelled the appointment of Begum Bushra and Ansa Laraib Qamaruddin, while HDA secretary has said that legal action will be taken against these two women.
Section officer at Sindh Local Government Department (SLGD) has confirmed that the transfer letters issued by the SLGD was fake and action against the said officers will be taken.
The scam unfolded on October 13, when two women reached HDA Headquarters with transfer letters allegedly issued by the SLGD on Saturday, August 12, although the Sindh government had declared August 12 as a public holiday with August 13 falling on Sunday and August 14 being the national holiday.
Overlooking the anomaly, Begum Bushra and Ansa Laraib Qamaruddin were appointed as Office Superintendent in BPS 17 and Assistant in BPS 16, respectively, as per the directives of the transfer letters. They were immediately transferred to the Water and Sanitation Agency (WASA).
SLGD sources said that the officers were not only granted appointments without verifying their letters through the proper protocol but were also transferred to WASA after joining.
This transfer was carried out under Office Order No. HDA/DG/2900 and Office Order No.2901 dated October 13, 2023, issued by HDA Director General. It is surprising to note that despite the issuance of the transfer letters, the officers did not show up at HDA for two months.
Furthermore, neither the relevant HDA officers nor WASA could obtain the last pay scale certificates for the two female officers. These certificates would have provided information about their last salaries and the source of their salaries.
Consequently, the local government department staff reacted against the suspicious appointments, forcing HDA administration to seek confirmation of the letters.
Under Office Order No. HDA/DG/2980 dated October 19, a letter was written to SLGD regarding the transfer letters of the female officers. In response, SLGD Section Officer III confirmed that the transfer letters of Bushra and Laraib were fake.
Subsequently, on October 23, under letter No. 3004 and 3005, HDA canceled the appointments of the two women, stating that they had submitted fake transfer orders to the institution.
Copies of the relevant letters have been forwarded to the Director General by Secretary HDA, MD WASA, Director Finance & Commercial Taxes, Deputy Director Audit & Accounts Secretariat HDA, Section Officer (HTP III) Local Government and Section Officer III Local Government Department.
However, it remains unclear what action is being taken against the female officers. When contacted, HDA DG Zahid Hussain Shar did not answer his phone, and Secretary HDA Abdul Manan Sheikh indicated that further action would be taken by the Local Government Department, as copies of the office orders to cancel the appointments had been sent to them.
Published in The Express Tribune, October 25th, 2023.
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