Punjab Environment Protection Department (EPD) has moved a summary seeking amendments in service rules for the appointment of Environmental Protection Agency director general without taking the environment minister into confidence.
Prior to this, the same summary has been rejected thrice which included the clauses added only to protect Dr Javed Iqbal who was removed from his post of DG on the orders of Lahore High Court (LHC). Those three summaries had been moved to secretary regulation by the then secretary Iqbal Chuhan.
According to sources, the first summary was rejected by secretary law while other two were rejected by the Punjab chief secretary.
Dr Javed Iqbal was appointed as DG EPA in June 2015 in violation of service rules of the EPA. Although he had a PhD in environment, but according to rules his did not meet the criteria to hold the office of DG EPA. Prior to getting this post, he was serving as WASA managing director, while he has also served as technical adviser of housing department.
According to EPA rules 2011, the post of DG EPA can be filled through promotion among the directors. If none is available for promotion, the post can be filled either by initial recruitment or by transfer from Provincial Management Service (PMS) or All Pakistan Unified Group (APUG) officers.
Before the court verdict which declared the appointment of Dr Javed Iqbal as DG EPA in violation of rules, the EPD started trying to amend the rules which were just suitable to Dr Javed Iqbal.
An official seeking anonymity told Pakistan Today that despite three rejections, EPD was still seeking amendments just to protect former DG Javed Iqbal.
“EPD tried rectifying its mistakes prior to the court orders by introducing amendments to rules related to new induction and transfer from amongst the officers of BPS-20 for posting as DG EPA,” he said, adding that the new summary which was sent last week proves the department is committing violations.
In response to an earlier summary, the chief secretary remarked, “The department has a dead pool of directors who have not really contributed in making the EPA a robust and vibrant organisation. It will be by mere seniority that the senior most directors will get promoted and no tangible improvement in the making of the department will be considered, he said.
The chief secretary further remarked that they were considering revamping the EPA, hiring of the post of DG EPA along with others from the market may be considered as first option and directors of EPA and APUG/PMS officers can also participate in the process of market based hiring.
Dr Javed Iqbal had been removed from the post of DG EPA after an LHC verdict last month. The LHC chief justice clearly directed the government to appoint some suitable officer at the post of DG.
When contacted, Minister for Environment Begum Zakia Shahnawaz said that the matter of moving this summary was not brought to her knowledge. However, she said that she will look into the matter.
