‘Blue-eyed officers promoted, seniors ignored’

Sources say ‘tainted’ officers promoted to ‘settle scores’ with superior court.

LAHORE:

The government approved the promotion of 19 officers from BS-21 to BS-22 on Thursday, while ignoring many senior officers who had earlier chosen to approach the courts against ‘bias’ shown in elevations.

Most notable among the ignored officers is Additional Secretary Public Accounts Committee Moosa Raza Effendi, number two on the seniority list.

On April 12, the Central Selection Board headed by Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani, promoted officers in BS-21 to BS-22 from the federally constituted Service Group.

The approval for the promotions came the same day as Irfan Qadir, known for his belligerent attitude towards judiciary, was appointed as the attorney general.

The approval comes in clear disregard for officers mentioned on top of the seniority list, which was issued on March 19, 2012 and prepared pursuant to the Federal Services Tribunal’s (FST) judgment on December 27, 2011.

In a board meeting held on November 25, 2011, Effendi was ignored while his juniors were promoted to BS-22, the seniority list obtained by The Express Tribune revealed.

In return, Effendi filed a writ petition in the Islamabad High Court terming the decision illegal and unjustified. The High Court considered the meritorious record of the petitioner and observed: “… the petitioner was deferred for promotion not supported by any documentary evidence, but as a result of briefing of the Secretary Establishment Division, which appears to be a biased initiative depriving the petitioner of his right”. On February 14, 2012, the court further observed that “it was necessary for the courts to be vigilant about such highhandedness if observed on the part of the authorities”.  The court directed the respondents to revisit the case of the petitioner within a period of the one month.

Thursday’s development shows that the board did not promote those officers who had approached the courts, namely Effendi, Naheed Rizvi, and Humaira Hassan, sources said.

Officers tainted with NAB stickers have been promoted whereas officers such as Effendi, who was awarded with a Shield of Integrity by the Transparency International Pakistan (TIP), was not found fit for promotion, a senior colleague of Effendi, who was also ignored, stated.

By ignoring these officers, the government seems to have ‘settled its score’ with the courts, which amounts to defiance and contempt, another officer who was not promoted told The Express Tribune.

Sources further said that it seems that merit lies in being either somebody’s husband (such as the case with Muhammad Saleem Sethi, number 16 on the seniority list, who is cabinet and defence secretary Nargis Sethi’s husband) or someone’s sister (Mrs Nasreenul Haque, sister of former principal secretary to the prime minister Siraj Shamsuddin, who sits at number 17 on the seniority list).

Published in The Express Tribune, April 14^th, 2012.