OGDC chief removed after just two weeks

Gilani orders ministry of petroleum and natural resources to withdraw notification for Khwaja’s appointment.

ISLAMABAD: The government on Thursday removed the Oil and Gas Development Company Limited (OGDCL) chief Adnan Khwaja just two weeks after his ‘controversial’ appointment.

The Supreme Court had rebuked the government on Wednesday over the move, taking suo motu action when it learnt via media reports that Khwaja was convicted by a court on corruption charges and was still on bail.

Khwaja, reportedly a close friend of Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani, was appointed as OGDCL chairman on September 7.

A handout said Gilani had ordered the ministry of petroleum and natural resources to withdraw the notification for Khwaja’s appointment and make a “fresh selection on merit through a completely transparent mechanism”.

This was not the first time Khwaja had been accomodated by Gilani. He was first appointed as chairman of the National Film Development Corporation (Nafdec) in 2008, where he served undetected for two whole years. The apex court has ordered Khwaja to appear before it on Friday.

This is also not the first time the government has had to remove officials from key posts after their appointments were challenged in the Supreme Court.

The latest among such officers was Irfan Qadir, the former prosecutor-general of the National Accountability Bureau.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 17^th, 2010.