Bureaucratic manoeuvring: How to accommodate an over-aged functionary
Planning Commission is seeking project extension till June 2013 to retain Asif Sheikh.
ISLAMABAD:
The Planning Commission is considering extending a project worth Rs144.2 million for a second time, aimed to continue accommodating an official who has crossed the retirement age and is facing an inquiry ordered by the Prime Minister’s Secretariat on the same grounds.
The Institutional Strengthening and Efficiency Enhancement Project’s first extension lapsed in September 2012, but officials involved with the project are still being paid salaries from taxpayer money. According to the Planning Commission documents, Rs3.2 million has been released for the project, out of Rs18 million earmarked for it for the current fiscal year.
A Planning Commission spokesman confirmed the project expired in September 2012, and a proposal to extend the project till June 2013 was under consideration. He said that no decision has been taken regarding the new extension, while the government is continuing to bear the cost of the salaries of less than a dozen officials, hired against the project. The spokesman also confirmed that serious work on the project had stalled.
The project was originally planned till June 2014, but in a rationalisation exercise, it was listed as an expendable project. It was among 14 other projects which were abandoned to save Rs25 billion. The projects were initiated in the name of capacity building, but the real motive was to accommodate retired bureaucrats, said an official of the Planning Commission.
According to the Public Sector Development Programmes’ document, Rs67.8 million was spent on the project up to June 2012, compared to the total cost of Rs144.2 million. Had the decision to abandon it been upheld, Rs76.4 million in taxpayers money would have been saved.
PM’s Secretariat seeks explanation
The proposal to extend the Institutional Strengthening and Efficiency Enhancement Project has been initiated despite the fact that the Prime Minister’s Secretariat sought an explanation from the Planning Commission in June 2012 for retaining an official who is over 65-years-old, which is the maximum age limit for a contractual job after an official reaches the superannuation age of 60.
After a media report highlighted the irregularity, the Secretariat raised its objections, and the commissions’ secretary at the time, Asif Bajwa, had constituted an inquiry committee and interestingly the official at the centre of the irregularity, Asif Sheikh, was also a member of the committee.
According to an official of the Administration Wing of the Planning Commission who is dealing with the matter, the inquiry has not yet been concluded and certain clarifications have been sought from the Establishment Division. He said that after the Establishment Division’s response, the Planning Commission would give its response to the Secretariat’s objections.
When approached by The Express Tribune for comment, Sheikh said he did not have any idea about the status of the project.
Sources said that there was a possibility the commission could extend the project as Sheikh was not only relying on bureaucrats but also using his political connections.
In 2007, the project had been designed to retain Sheikh in the commission, even after his retirement, according to the officials.
In June 2012, the PC had made a plea that the government wanted to gradually close down the project to give a chance to the officials to find new jobs.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 1st, 2012.
The Planning Commission is considering extending a project worth Rs144.2 million for a second time, aimed to continue accommodating an official who has crossed the retirement age and is facing an inquiry ordered by the Prime Minister’s Secretariat on the same grounds.
The Institutional Strengthening and Efficiency Enhancement Project’s first extension lapsed in September 2012, but officials involved with the project are still being paid salaries from taxpayer money. According to the Planning Commission documents, Rs3.2 million has been released for the project, out of Rs18 million earmarked for it for the current fiscal year.
A Planning Commission spokesman confirmed the project expired in September 2012, and a proposal to extend the project till June 2013 was under consideration. He said that no decision has been taken regarding the new extension, while the government is continuing to bear the cost of the salaries of less than a dozen officials, hired against the project. The spokesman also confirmed that serious work on the project had stalled.
The project was originally planned till June 2014, but in a rationalisation exercise, it was listed as an expendable project. It was among 14 other projects which were abandoned to save Rs25 billion. The projects were initiated in the name of capacity building, but the real motive was to accommodate retired bureaucrats, said an official of the Planning Commission.
According to the Public Sector Development Programmes’ document, Rs67.8 million was spent on the project up to June 2012, compared to the total cost of Rs144.2 million. Had the decision to abandon it been upheld, Rs76.4 million in taxpayers money would have been saved.
PM’s Secretariat seeks explanation
The proposal to extend the Institutional Strengthening and Efficiency Enhancement Project has been initiated despite the fact that the Prime Minister’s Secretariat sought an explanation from the Planning Commission in June 2012 for retaining an official who is over 65-years-old, which is the maximum age limit for a contractual job after an official reaches the superannuation age of 60.
After a media report highlighted the irregularity, the Secretariat raised its objections, and the commissions’ secretary at the time, Asif Bajwa, had constituted an inquiry committee and interestingly the official at the centre of the irregularity, Asif Sheikh, was also a member of the committee.
According to an official of the Administration Wing of the Planning Commission who is dealing with the matter, the inquiry has not yet been concluded and certain clarifications have been sought from the Establishment Division. He said that after the Establishment Division’s response, the Planning Commission would give its response to the Secretariat’s objections.
When approached by The Express Tribune for comment, Sheikh said he did not have any idea about the status of the project.
Sources said that there was a possibility the commission could extend the project as Sheikh was not only relying on bureaucrats but also using his political connections.
In 2007, the project had been designed to retain Sheikh in the commission, even after his retirement, according to the officials.
In June 2012, the PC had made a plea that the government wanted to gradually close down the project to give a chance to the officials to find new jobs.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 1st, 2012.