No more plots: PM pours cold water on deputationist officers’ hopes

Officers on deputation in Capital Development Authority (CDA) will not be eligible for plots, any more.

ISLAMABAD:

The days of bureaucrats rushing to get deputed in the capital’s civic body to get a plot, seem to be coming to an end. Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf directed the Capital Development Authority (CDA) on Friday to stop allotting plots to deputationist officers. The directive was issued during a meeting at the Prime Minister’s House in which CDA Chairman Tahir Shahbaz briefed the premier about the civic agency’s affairs.

According to a press statement issued by the Prime Minister’s office, the PM ordered “Deputationists posted in the CDA shall henceforth no longer be entitled to allotment of plots”.

The sudden news has sent a shock wave among many deputationists, who were looking to get plots in the federal capital by working on deputation for a few years.

Official sources told The Express Tribune that over 70 officials from different departments are working on deputation in different grades, mostly below grade-16.



The deputationists include Deputy Director-General, Directorate of Municipal Administration, Mansoor Ahmed Khan; Director, Administration, Ramzan Joya; Director, Staff, Ijaz Ahmed Bajwa; Directors, Sanitation, Faisal Nisar and Sajjad Ali Shah; Director, Parks, Khalid Malik; Director, Land, Sultan Fiaz; Director, Estate Management, Chaudhry Muhammad Aslam; Deputy Director, Human Resource Department, Masoodur Rehman, and Deputy Director, Enforcement, Shafi Marwat.

According to the sources, these deputationists have been unable to get plots after multiple failed attempts during the tenure of former Chairman Engineer Farkhand Iqbal, which ended in October this year. He said that many officials have filed petitions before the Islamabad High Court (IHC) seeking plots, on which the court stayed the process and the matter is pending.

“Ultimately, deputationist officers have to go back to their parent departments... deputation law does not support them and they often only join the CDA to get benefits, the biggest of which is a plot,” said a CDA legal official requesting anonymity.



Another official requesting not to be named said that this practice basically has ruined the civic agency because deputationists are not sincere with the institution’s goals.

On December 14, CDA chairman sent a number of officers back to their parent departments, including Director-General, Civic Management, Dr Fawwad Anwar, Deputy Director, Estate, Ali Naqi; Deputy Director, Estate Management, Shafiullah, Horticulture Officer Khalid Mateen, Environment Inspector Zahir Shah, and admin officers Malik Liaquat and Nazeer Ahmed Abro.

During the meeting, the PM also took notice of the failure of the CDA to get approval for the revised cost of upgradation of Kashmir Highway. He directed the civic agency chief to get it approved from the proper forum and also hold an inquiry to determine who was responsible for the violation, which took place before Shahbaz’s tenure.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 15^th, 2012.