KARACHI – The Sindh government has extended the contractual services of the senior member of the Board of Revenue, who also holds the additional charge of acting chief secretary (CS), for an indefinite period, in violation of the apex court’s orders.
The provincial government removed a number of contract employees from various departments last month in compliance with the Supreme Court’s orders. However, the appointment of a senior member of the Board of Revenue, Ghulam Ali Shah Pasha, who has been running matters as acting Sindh chief secretary after the retirement of Fazalur Rehman, is in clear violation of the court’s orders.
Sindh has been without a fulltime chief secretary since the retirement of Fazalur Rehman on August 31 last year, creating hindrances in the smooth functioning of the government’s department and unrest in the senior bureaucracy. Extending the appointment of Pasha, who in principle retired from service this month and is said to be a close relative of federal minister Naveed Qamar, is a violation of Civil Service Rules as well as the apex court’s orders when there are other eligible alternatives available.
ELIGIBLE ALTERNATIVES: Around eight grade-22 officers of the District Management Group with Sindh’s domicile serving in the federal government, and around six grade-21 officers in Sindh are eligible alternatives to Pasha. Grade-22 officers working for the federal government are Maj Qamar, Imtiaz Qazi, Rukhsana Salim, KB Rind, Salim Khan, Wajid Rana, Ghaffar Soomro and Arif Azeem, whereas grade-21 officers working for the provincial government are Munawar Opal, Subhan Memon, Mumtazur Rehman, Ishaq Lashari, Ayub Shaikh and Malik Israr.
