Changed once again: Another day, another city boss
Earlier notification appointing Javed Iqbal Awan as chairman cancelled.
ISLAMABAD:
The government can’t seem to make up its mind. Barely 24 hours after it was issued, the notification announcing the appointment of Javed Iqbal Awan as chairman of the Capital Development Authority (CDA) was cancelled and the CDA got a ‘new’ new chairman on Tuesday.
Tahir Shahbaz, a BPS-21 Pakistan Administrative Services officer, assumed charge as chairman after a notification from the Establishment Division was issued earlier in the day.
Shahbaz was previously posted as an additional secretary at the Prime Minister’s Secretariat. He has also worked as an additional secretary in the Cabinet Division and joint secretary in the Establishment Division. Shahbaz served as the deputy commissioner of Okara as well.
Despite Monday’s notification of his transfer back to the Planning and Development Division with immediate effect, Farkhand Iqbal sat in the chairman’s seat at the CDA for some time on Tuesday.
CDA spokesperson Ramzan Sajid said Iqbal visited the office to hand over charge as chairman.
Iqbal arrived at the CDA office building at around 10:30am, according to an official there. In the corridor outside the chairman’s office, he briefly shook hands with CDA employees and told them not to worry.
He held meetings with former members of the CDA board and other CDA officials at the office during the day, which was guarded by his security protocol.
Sources close to the development told The Express Tribune that Iqbal inducted “several” daily-wages employees and signed a dozen files with backdated induction dates while he was in office on Tuesday.
An inquiry report about the CDA submitted to the prime minister by Cabinet Secretary Nargis Sethi is believed to be the main reason behind the end of Iqbal’s tenure as chairman. The prime minister had ordered the report after halting the auction of 12 commercial plots in Blue Area due to concerns about the pre-qualification process of bidding.
Farkhand Iqbal moves IHC against ousting
Iqbal moved Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Tuesday against his transfer back to his parent department.
Making the Establishment and Cabinet secretaries, and “CDA Chairman” Javed Iqbal Awan respondents, Iqbal filed a petition through his counsel Advocate Shoaib Shaheen challenging the notification of his transfer. This was before Awan’s appointment had been cancelled by the prime minister.
Iqbal maintained in his petition that the transfer notification issued is against the law. He argued that according to section 6 of the CDA Ordinance 1960, the post of chairman tenure is five years so he could not ousted from his present post. He claimed that this notification is based on mala fide intention with political basis. Justice Muhammad Anwar Khan Kasi will take up this petition on Tuesday.
Legal experts observed that deputation law as such does not support the petitioner. Syed Tayyab, a lawyer who specialises in civil service matters, said that “ultimately, deputation officers have to go back to their parent departments because they cannot be made permanent employees”. He gave the example of a recent case in which IHC decided against police officers on deputation who were sent back to their parent department.
Muhammad Ramzan Khan, another lawyer who deals with cases related to civil services, endorsed Syed Tayyab’s opinion. “Legally, there is no right of deputation officer to challenge such notifications because he must go back his parent department,” he added. He added, however, that if the transfer was based on political reasons, the petitioner has a right to plea before the court for relief.
Published in The Express Tribune, October 3rd, 2012.
The government can’t seem to make up its mind. Barely 24 hours after it was issued, the notification announcing the appointment of Javed Iqbal Awan as chairman of the Capital Development Authority (CDA) was cancelled and the CDA got a ‘new’ new chairman on Tuesday.
Tahir Shahbaz, a BPS-21 Pakistan Administrative Services officer, assumed charge as chairman after a notification from the Establishment Division was issued earlier in the day.
Shahbaz was previously posted as an additional secretary at the Prime Minister’s Secretariat. He has also worked as an additional secretary in the Cabinet Division and joint secretary in the Establishment Division. Shahbaz served as the deputy commissioner of Okara as well.
Despite Monday’s notification of his transfer back to the Planning and Development Division with immediate effect, Farkhand Iqbal sat in the chairman’s seat at the CDA for some time on Tuesday.
CDA spokesperson Ramzan Sajid said Iqbal visited the office to hand over charge as chairman.
Iqbal arrived at the CDA office building at around 10:30am, according to an official there. In the corridor outside the chairman’s office, he briefly shook hands with CDA employees and told them not to worry.
He held meetings with former members of the CDA board and other CDA officials at the office during the day, which was guarded by his security protocol.
Sources close to the development told The Express Tribune that Iqbal inducted “several” daily-wages employees and signed a dozen files with backdated induction dates while he was in office on Tuesday.
An inquiry report about the CDA submitted to the prime minister by Cabinet Secretary Nargis Sethi is believed to be the main reason behind the end of Iqbal’s tenure as chairman. The prime minister had ordered the report after halting the auction of 12 commercial plots in Blue Area due to concerns about the pre-qualification process of bidding.
Farkhand Iqbal moves IHC against ousting
Iqbal moved Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Tuesday against his transfer back to his parent department.
Making the Establishment and Cabinet secretaries, and “CDA Chairman” Javed Iqbal Awan respondents, Iqbal filed a petition through his counsel Advocate Shoaib Shaheen challenging the notification of his transfer. This was before Awan’s appointment had been cancelled by the prime minister.
Iqbal maintained in his petition that the transfer notification issued is against the law. He argued that according to section 6 of the CDA Ordinance 1960, the post of chairman tenure is five years so he could not ousted from his present post. He claimed that this notification is based on mala fide intention with political basis. Justice Muhammad Anwar Khan Kasi will take up this petition on Tuesday.
Legal experts observed that deputation law as such does not support the petitioner. Syed Tayyab, a lawyer who specialises in civil service matters, said that “ultimately, deputation officers have to go back to their parent departments because they cannot be made permanent employees”. He gave the example of a recent case in which IHC decided against police officers on deputation who were sent back to their parent department.
Muhammad Ramzan Khan, another lawyer who deals with cases related to civil services, endorsed Syed Tayyab’s opinion. “Legally, there is no right of deputation officer to challenge such notifications because he must go back his parent department,” he added. He added, however, that if the transfer was based on political reasons, the petitioner has a right to plea before the court for relief.
Published in The Express Tribune, October 3rd, 2012.