Undue benefit: CEC bars members from unnecessary trips
Instructs ECP members to go on official tours only after approval
Instructs ECP members to go on official tours only after approval. PHOTO: EXPRESS
ISLAMABAD:
Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Justice (retd) Sardar Raza has barred Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) members from taking undue ‘official trips’. The CEC, through an official memo, has intimated all four members that they should go on official tours only after a due approval.
The CEC has also barred the members of interfering in the affairs of the provincial offices of the commission.
The move came in the wake of reports that some members have been misusing the facility for their personal engagements. Sources in the ECP said since their appointment in June 2011, some members have been spending weeks in their native towns while marking them as official visits.
These members also utilise the facilities at the provincial headquarters and charge TADAs for the duration of their stay.
The precedent evolved when former CEC Justice (retd) Hamid Ali Mirza, who belonged to Sindh, sanctioned for himself and the members air tickets and a monthly stay in the native provinces.
“It had become a routine that members spent weeks at their homes in their provinces every month and treat it as official visit,” a source said. “This prompted the CEC to take action and issue office memo,” he added.
The spirit of having a CEC and four members in the commission was to have representation of all the four provinces, by taking a member from every federating unit.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 24th, 2015.
Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Justice (retd) Sardar Raza has barred Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) members from taking undue ‘official trips’. The CEC, through an official memo, has intimated all four members that they should go on official tours only after a due approval.
The CEC has also barred the members of interfering in the affairs of the provincial offices of the commission.
The move came in the wake of reports that some members have been misusing the facility for their personal engagements. Sources in the ECP said since their appointment in June 2011, some members have been spending weeks in their native towns while marking them as official visits.
These members also utilise the facilities at the provincial headquarters and charge TADAs for the duration of their stay.
The precedent evolved when former CEC Justice (retd) Hamid Ali Mirza, who belonged to Sindh, sanctioned for himself and the members air tickets and a monthly stay in the native provinces.
“It had become a routine that members spent weeks at their homes in their provinces every month and treat it as official visit,” a source said. “This prompted the CEC to take action and issue office memo,” he added.
The spirit of having a CEC and four members in the commission was to have representation of all the four provinces, by taking a member from every federating unit.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 24th, 2015.