LAHORE – Former Lahore Development Authority (LDA) director general Umer Rasool issued orders to provide one month additional salaries to 51 employees, while he was on official leave on medial grounds.
Rasool went on an official leave in the first week of January. LDA Additional DG (Headquarter) Hafiz Ahsanul Haq was posted as acting LDA DG in his absence. Rasool was removed from the post on January 31. However, during his leave he issued orders to give one month additional salaries to his ‘favorite’ 51 employees.
Some senior bureaucrats have termed this move as the ‘best example of overstepping of powers’ that had been conferred to the LDA DG, as neither in the Punjab government nor in any department’s history, they said, one could find such blaring irregularity. They characterize it as ‘administrative miracle’ under the very nose of Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif.
Sources in LDA said that as soon as the issue was brought to fore, LDA Chairman Ahad Cheema, in consultation with the newly posted LDA DG Abdul Jabbar Shaheen, cancelled the orders and 51 cheques issued to the employees. “The issue has already been brought into the knowledge of Punjab government to take stern action. However, since Rasool is good friend of the CM, the matter has been hushed up,” sources alleged.
According to a senior official in LDA (Administration), it was a ‘planned move’ collaborated by topnotch officials of the LDA. After Rasool approved the additional salaries during official leave and in the presence of acting LDA DG, LDA Director (Administration) Shahid Fareed also issued the official orders without any loss of time. LDA DG (Headquarter) Suqrat Aman Rana working in LDA on depuration was also among the beneficiaries.
Some other such officers included Muhammad Arshad, Muhammad Sarfaraz, Ijaz Anwar, Shamas Aalam, Javed Iqbal and Muhamamd Javed Akbar.
