Headless CDA: Housekeeping, we need a new chairman

Asif removed after inglorious tenure, made secretary to president; few want job.

ISLAMABAD:

Another bureaucrat brought in to address the many ills of the capital’s civic agency fell on Saturday, after the federal government removed Nadeem Hassan Asif from the Capital Development Authority chairmanship. While no formal reason was given, sources in the agency said poor performance “on various fronts” was to blame.

According to a notification issued by the Establishment Division on Saturday, Asif has been appointed at the relatively less-visible post of secretary to the President of Pakistan.

Rumours are racing through Islamabad that comparatively junior officers including PM Secretariat Additional Secretary Fawad Hassan Fawad, Immigration and Passport DG Sikandar Sultan Raja, and Secretary to the Punjab CM Tauqeer Shah are lobbying for the post.

“Due to the pathetic state of CDA affairs, no seasoned bureaucrat is willing to take the assignment,” said a senior Establishment Division officer.

He said the PM wants the position to go to an officer who has recently been promoted to grade 22.

However, Fawad Hassan Fawad, a grade 20 officer, is stated to be the frontrunner for the post thanks to his close ties with the Sharifs. On June 26, PM Nawaz Sharif visited Fawad’s house in Rawalpindi to condole with the officer after his mother’s death.

However, many believe that Fawad is not suitable for a public office such as CDA chairman as he is known to have an autocratic attitude.

In 2011, he was removed from the position of Punjab health secretary for his handling of the Young Doctors Association strikes. Prior to his removal, young doctors were beaten, sacked from service and had criminal cases lodged against them.

“During his tenure, hundreds of contract or reemployed officials were removed from service and hundreds of others of all ranks were transferred, creating a stir in the administrative system in the province,” said a senior bureaucrat who served in the Punjab government during the same period.

Following his removal from the health secretary post, he was appointed the prosecution department secretary — a position many believed suited his temperament.

Fawad was also named in an inquiry initiated by the Punjab government to fix responsibility for the spread of dengue fever in Punjab during the same period.

“The office of the CDA chairman is a public office requiring expertise in dealing with the public, business community, and facing the media,” said an official, adding that former chairman Asif lacked all of these qualities and was certain to be an unpopular head the day he took the job.

During his six-month tenure in the office, he tried to create a centralized system in the CDA on the pattern of Punjab government departments and ministries. “He had no time for the general public, the media, or the business community during his tenure,” he added.

“The officers Asif brought on deputation from Lahore used to tell CDA officers they were incompetent and corrupt and that the chairman was not ready to trust them,” said a CDA official, adding that such behaviour sent a wave of panic and distrust among CDA-cadre officers.

Soon after assuming the office of chairman, he removed two CDA-cadre officers from the CDA board and brought in his own people from Punjab, including incumbent Member Planning Wasim Khan, despite the fact Khan was among 11 LDA officials who were found guilty of negligence leading to the deaths of four labourers in 2011 after an investigation by the Punjab chief minister’s inspection team. Khan was the Lahore Development Authority’s (LDA) chief metropolitan planner at the time.

Misadventures including the sale of land in sectors D-12 and E-12 that seemed to favoured property dealers and created abnormal hikes in land rates in the area, followed by a commercial land auction widely considered a flop add further credence to Asif’s perceived inability to handle a job requiring tremendous “people skills”. Meanwhile, in terms of new projects, no new projects were undertaken, nor were any efforts made to resolve a host of pending issues.

The Express Tribune tried to contact Nadeem Hassan Asif, but he was not available for comment.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 9^th, 2013.