In sheer violation of the government rules and procedures, Lok Virsa Executive Director Khalid Javaid has been granting irregular extensions and re-employments to his retired subordinates on contract basis without any prior approval of the Ministry of Information or the other department concerned.
A senior official of Lok Virsa, on the condition of anonymity, said the executive director had re-employed his favourite subordinate Naseemullah Rashid violating the government rules. Rashid who had been working as the media centre director retired on May 16, 2010, but favoritism dominated the rule of law and the executive director granted him one-year extension till May 16, 2011. The officer has, however, been holding the same position without any further notification.
Similarly, another staffer, Salik Mehmood, who was working as an accounts officer, retired on May 16, 2008, but has been holding the same position since then without any prior notification. Interestingly, he is not only drawing salary but also getting pension. Saeed A Khan, currently working as a deputy director, retired on May 14, 2010 after which he worked for five months on contractual basis with COSMOS, a private partner company of Lok Virsa. Once again, the Lok Virsa executive director hired the services of Khan on contract basis without any prior notification. The Lok Virsa officials were of the view that the organisation was unable to respond to its charter and nothing had been done in the pursuit of its objectives, but had just been organising cultural events by spending government money. “These officials have been wrongly inducted against a higher post to give them undue financial benefits in gross violation of the government rules. Lok Virsa is an autonomous body of the federal government working under the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting after the devolution programme, but it does not follow the rules and regulations and standing instructions of the federal government and judiciary,” they said, adding the executive director had no right to give extension, re-hire or appoint any person on his own.
According to the documents available with Pakistan Today, all the four retired people were part of ‘Artisans-At-Work Festival’ titled ‘Lok Mela’ held on the Virsa premises from June 4 to June 12. According to (the then) Ministry of Culture notification under the 18th Amendment, Shazia will work as a steno-typist, Zunaira as assistant cum-cashier and Zobia Sultana as acting director (research). “None of these three women knows what their actual assignments are. Zunaira is assistant cum-cashier and she is supposed to work in the accounts department, but she knows nothing about accounting.
Similarly, Shazia is a steno-typist, but she is working as a photographer while Zobia Sultana was appointed by the executive director as acting director (research) in BPS-17 and within a few months was promoted to grade-18 without any approval from the ministry Lok Virsa officials said adding this violation was not good for the loyal and committed employees who had been working dedicatedly for 20-25 years.
The officials revealed Shahzad Alam had filed a petition stating that his brother appeared in the test for steno-typist and passed it on merit, but he was ignored and Shazia appointed. Naseemullah Rashid admitted that his one-year extension expired on May 16, 2011, but the Lok Virsa executive director hired him on the grounds of his expertise, the previous work and experience in documentary making and editing.
When contacted, Lok Virsa Executive Director Khalid Javaid said there was no reappointment made in the higher ranks of Lok Virsa. “I wanted the services of the senior people who have worked extensively in the relevant fields, so I hired these officials on contractual basis,” the virsa chief said.
