‘Bad’ officer maybe re-hired

Judicial commission had recommended sacking, recovery.

LAHORE:

The Punjab government is set to re-hire a retired chief engineer as a project director in the Irrigation Department even though an inquiry found that he had been negligent in managing the province’s barrages ahead of the devastating floods in 2010.

Ghulam Hussain Qadri, Bahawalpur zone chief engineer, was posted as project director in the Project Management Office for the Punjab Barrages Rehabilitation and Modernisation Project in February 2010.  He was offered special pay in BS-20. With his contract due to expire, the Irrigation Department has sent a proposal to the chief secretary that Qadri be rehired for five years as he had done a “remarkable job” during his term as project director.

On the other hand, the judicial commission that investigated the 2010 flood disaster had found that Qadri and 15 other Irrigation Department officials had failed to comply with regulations and with the government’s flood fighting plan. It said that they had not inspected bunds due to “a lack of interest”. The commission recommended “the recovery of damage/loss” and the termination of his contract with immediate affect.

The Supreme Court had in 2010 also instructed the government to terminate all contract appointments of retired officials. Irrigation Secretary Irfan Elahi said the donor agency for the project, the Asian Development Bank, wanted Qadri re-hired because he possessed “good institutional memory”. Qadri was unavailable for comment.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 3^rd, 2012.