Pack your bags: CDA wants to clean its stable

An official facing corruption charges in her parent department is allegedly not being repatriated.

ISLAMABAD:

The city managers have accelerated the process of cleansing the civic agency of all irrelevant and tainted officers working on deputation but with an exception.

In recent past attempts by Capital Development Authority (CDA) chief to clean up his stable have attracted the ire of some in the civic agency and politicians.

CDA has written a letter to the Cabinet Division to repatriate officials working on deputation in the civic body to their parent departments. The CDA has also sought the deputation of some ‘credible officers’ to the civic body.



“Yes, the CDA has written to the Cabinet Division regarding the return of some officers to their parent departments. We have also sought the services of some officers to efficiently deal with the gigantic issues that the authority has been confronting in the absence of the right persons at the right positions,” CDA Chairman Tahir Shahbaz told The Express Tribune.

However, some officials in the civic agency claim that the Cabinet Division’s efforts to repatriate a deputationist from the CDA to face corruption charges have hit a snag, allegedly due to her ‘strong backing’ from the civic agency’s high ups.

CDA Maintenance Director Naseem Akhtar Qureshi has been on deputation since December 2010. She was formerly a director at the Housing and Works Ministry and was accused of corruption during her tenure there.

The Cabinet Division in a letter to the CDA on March 29 requested the repatriation of Qureshi.

On March 20, 2012, the housing ministry sent a letter to the then-CDA chairman withdrawing a no-objection certificate for Qureshi and requesting the agency to “relieve the officer for the completion of disciplinary proceedings against her”.

But the CDA did not send her back. On March 13, 2013, the Cabinet Division sent a letter to the current CDA chairman referring to a National Assembly’s adjournment motion from MNA Tariq Rasheed that clarification was still awaited from the CDA.

“She is well connected and nobody can move against her, even the chairman,” said a CDA official on the condition of anonymity.

Two separate audit and investigation reports have found Qureshi guilty of her involvement in awarding overpriced tenders for seven Pakistan Housing Authority (PHA) projects. The overall increase, in the Rs736.41 million-project was 37.77 per cent over the original tender.

On March 5, 2013, the Cabinet Division again sent a letter to CDA and requested that she be relieved to avoid further delays in the inquiry process.

According to documents available with The Express Tribune, Qureshi was deputed to the CDA without involving the Cabinet Division, in violation of rules.

It is also surprising for many at CDA that despite the withdrawal of her NOC by the housing ministry, she is still working on her post.

On March 21, CDA chairman Shahbaz approved the repatriation of Qureshi, but all of a sudden, the move was halted.

Sources in the agency blamed a senior board member for “all the dillydallying” with the process.

According to the PHA findings, “It was surprising for the investigation committee that an important technical post of Director General in BS-20 was occupied by a junior officer of BS-17.” The report further pointed out that such a junior officer had neither the experience to handle such mega projects or the affairs of consultants.

Shahbaz told The Express Tribune that there was no reluctance on the part of the CDA regarding the repatriation of Qureshi to her parent department. “We have already initiated the repatriation process for some officers who are working in the authority on deputation, but the case of Qureshi will be treated separately, as we have received a request from the housing ministry.”

He dispelled the impression that the administration member was influencing the repatriation of Qureshi and maintained that the officer would be sent to her parent department within a week.

Why repatriate?

The ban on recruitment, transfers and postings was imposed in January 2013 to circumvent politically motivated changes, but was lifted on March 29 after the installation of the caretaker setup.

Sources privy to the development said the decision was taken following a recent episode where plot allotment letters were issued to CDA officers, including those on deputation, in violation of the agency’s rules.

“The central characters of the plot allotment scam were officers on deputation,” a senior CDA official said.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 1^st, 2013.