LAHORE: A blue-eyed officer has been given the charge of Excise & Taxation Director Rawalpindi director (BS-19) while ignoring dozens of senior and competent officers in the Punjab Excise, Taxation & Narcotics Control (ET&NC) Department, Pakistan Today learnt on Thursday.
Sources said that Masood Bashir Warraich, a BS-17 officer, was one of the junior most ones in the slot to become the director but the secretary had appointed him on the post on OPS basis.
Warraich has remained an influential officer of the ET&NC, who was promoted as the Excise and Taxation Officer (ETO) on March 20, 2018. According to the details, Warraich was obliged after being given the charge of E&T director on May 11, 2018, within only two months of his promotion.
According to sources, Warraich has spent a major time of his job in the excise section of the department because it deals with the sale of liquor. “He is a favourite of the bigwigs of the department as they had also given him the additional charge of Rawalpindi director while he was just a BS-16 officer in 2017,” they said and added that a few months back a special post of entertainment director was created to oblige Warraich as well. “The post was withdrawn after the chief minister took notice of the issue,” they said.
They further revealed that Warraich was responsible for the increase in liquor prices in Rawalpindi a few years ago, over which a protest was also staged by liquor permit holders. “The authorities back then had recommended not giving him any important posts in the future,” said the sources and alleged that he was one of the wealthiest officers in ET&NC and his assets must be verified.
An officer seeking anonymity told Pakistan Today that at least 70 ETOs in the department were more senior than Warraich while Motor Vehicle Authority ETO in Rawalpindi, Noman, was the senior most and so the most eligible person.
ET&NC Secretary, Ahmad Bilal while talking to Pakistan Today said that Warraich was given the charge of director on a temporary basis to look after the department and he would be replaced after the appointment of a permanent director.
“It was an administrative decision,” he said and added that he was the “only officer having administrative capabilities”.
When asked about the reason behind obliging Warraich despite the fact that authorities had recommended not giving him any key posts, Bilal said the criticism was baseless.