U-turn: CDA somersaults on official’s appointment

A petition was filed by CDA former member planning challenging his replacement.

ISLAMABAD:

The capital city’s civic authorities on Monday took a U-turn on their previous stance on the appointment of a senior official on the Capital Development Authority (CDA) board.

The CDA officials in their reply to the Islamabad High Court (IHC) justified the appointment of Waseem Ahmed Khan as member, Planning and Design, on deputation in place of Mustafain Kazmi.

The former member of the planning and design has challenged his replacement in the court.

On August 26, IHC Chief Justice Muhammad Anwar Khan Kasi had stayed Khan’s appointment and issued notices to CDA Chairman Nadeem Hasan Asif, seeking his reply.

The authority’s reply to the court, justifying the appointment of Khan, was in contradiction of its earlier policy statements.

Surprisingly, after serving for a year on the CDA board as member planning, the civic authorities have now found that Kazmi was not qualified for the post.

The officials in their reply stated that Kazmi was a law graduate and had a master’s degree in mass communication which was not adequate for the post he was holding.

The authority stated that Kazmi is ineligible for the post of member planning as the position requires a person with specialised educational qualification.

However, in May 2013, in response to the queries of a judicial commission formed by IHC to probe irregularities in the CDA, the former chairman, Tahir Shahbaz, had informed the court that it does not support the idea of restricting its members to be technical experts in their respective areas.

The CDA’s then reply stated that the post of member is a BPS-20 grade management-level position which requires leadership skills foremost. The officials had further stated that it is an established practice that senior positions have no restrictions of technical qualifications/expertise.

Before being appointed as member planning, Khan had served as the chief metropolitan planner in Lahore Development Authority (LDA) and has a bachelor’s degree in City and Regional Planning and a master’s degree in Town Planning.

On August 19, 2013, Khan had taken charge as member of CDA’s planning & design directorate. However, CDA officials had expressed concerns about Khan’s controversial track record at LDA.

During Khan’s stint at LDA, four labourers were killed during the demolition of a plaza in September 2011 in Lahore.

Following the tragic incident, an inquiry was initiated against Khan and 10 other LDA officials on the recommendations of the Punjab chief minister’s inspection team which found all of them guilty however no punishments were awarded.

Court dismisses petition

The Islamabad High Court on Monday dismissed a petition seeking dismissal of officials who have been inducted in the IHC administration in violation of the prescribed rules.

Advocate Waqar Hanif Abbasi, sought a ruling against the hiring of 13 officials, some of whom were deputationists, on various posts by the IHC administration in a petition. He said no advertisement, tests, or interviews were conducted, nor were candidates’ documents scrutinised by the IHC administration before they were inducted in May this year.

He contended that the appointments had been made at the cost of eligible candidates. The petitioner argued that the Accountant General of Pakistan Revenue had also raised objections over the appointments. IHC Chief Justice Muhammad Anwar Khan Kasi dismissed the petition, saying it was not maintainable.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 24^th, 2013.