LAHORE – Seven “dear ones” of the Punjab government given re-employment after retirement resigned on Wednesday to avoid any legal action. The resignations came in response to a Supreme Court ruling in January against the re-employment of retired officers. Moreover, the S&GAD had also sought details of all such employees in various government departments across Punjab.
Some of the officers offered re-employment contracts and who resigned on Wednesday are prosecution secretary Rana Maqbool, Chief Minister’s Inspection Team (CMIT) chairman General (r) Ziauddin Butt, Anti-Corruption Establishment (ACE) DG Kazim Ali Malik, PCBC and Privatisation Board chairman Nazar Muhammad Chohan, press secretary to the CM Shoaib Bin Aziz, Col (r) Mahmood and Civil Defence chief Col (r) Ehsanullah.
Sources said all the re-employments were sanctioned directly by the chief minister, who approved such postings to benefit his “dear ones” despite their retirement. General (r) Ziauddin Butt was appointed COAS by then prime minister Nawaz Sharif, but had to leave after former president Pervaiz Musharraf staged a coup. Rana Maqbool is also considered “close” to the Sharifs and was given the post despite sheer criticism by the PPP. Shoaib bin Aziz, who recently retired, was an employee of the Punjab Information Department, but a separate post of the press secretary to the CM was created to accommodate him.
Services Secretary Sikandar Sultan Raja said his department had not received any notification regarding the resignations of the re-employed officials. He said it was likely that they had sent their resignations to the CM Secretariat. Punjab government spokesman Senator Pervez Rasheed said the resignations come in pursuance of the SC order.
