LAHORE: A score of blue-eyed junior officers are holding senior posts on On Pay Scale (OPS) basis in the Evacuee Trust Property Board (ETPB), Pakistan Today has learnt.
Sources in ETPB informed Pakistan Today that at least 20 junior officers were given the charge of senior posts by former ETPB chairman Siddiqul Farooq in violation of merit. They said that junior officers were given key positions for which they were not capable.
They said that appointment of such blue-eyed officers to important posts have hampered the efficiency of ETPB while authorities are reluctant to remove them from the offices. “The board is full of competent and senior officers but giving additional charges to selected officers enunciates nepotism that prevails at large in the department,” they said while adding that such officers had made ETPB controversial as its performance was declining with each passing day.
Among the officers who hold additional key administration posts are Deputy Secretary of Lands Ghulam Sarwar, who holds the charge of Nankana Sahib administrator, Wahab Gul, who holds the post of Lahore administrator as well as that of Karachi administrator and Muhammad Asif Khan, who has the charge of Rawalpindi deputy administrator and Peshawar deputy administrator.
Sources further revealed that the former chairman had given the additional charge of one of the most significant post – chief security officer (BPS-18) – to one of his blue-eyed clerks, Fazle Rabbi, a BPS-14 officer.
“Currently hundreds of properties are owned by ETPB across the country, a majority of which are the religious places of minorities and they need extensive security that is the responsibility of chief security officer,” they said, adding that the post must be filled with someone having due experience. They further said that other than his incompetence, Fazl’s behaviour to other employees was also not pleasant.
Sources said that Gulrez Chaudhary and Abdul Waheed Khan were also appointed as junior clerks (BPS-11) but were presently working as inspectors (BPS-14) in ETPB and that had demoralised other junior employees of the same rank.
A senior officer, while seeking anonymity, told Pakistan Today that as per rules, promotions could be made on the basis of seniority after the recommendations of the Departmental Promotion Committee. However, he said that such junior officers were appointed while ignoring the due criteria.
ETPB Secretary Tariq Wazir Khan told this scribe that he would take up the matter of such irregularities to the high-ups and said that the board would not allow anyone to violate the rules of ETPB. He also said that if someone was found violating the trust’s code of conduct, a strict action would be taken.
