ISLAMABAD: The Benazir Income Support Programme (BSIP) appointed two consultants of grade-19 scale without giving any advertisement, it has been learnt reliably.
Sources told this scribe that Noor Rehman Khan and Naveed Akbar were hired as consultants (equivalent to BS-17) in Finance Division’s Economic Reforms Unit (ERU) during 2007.
In 2008, they joined BISP on deputation and within one year, they were directly absorbed in the BISP as BPS-18 directors. They were promoted to the BPS-19 later, sources further added.
Sources said both were hired as BPS-19 consultants in 2010 and again absorbed in BISP during 2012 while violating all the said laws.
“No advertisement was announced against these vacancies before absorbing them directly in BISP, and the FPSC was also not involved in this whole process,” sources added.
According to further inputs, the BISP’s own service rules clearly state that any vacancy in BISP has to be advertised first before the selection of the candidates.
Despite glaring illegalities involved in the selection of Akbar and Khan, the BISP management completely ignored the regulations and promoted both as director generals, sources argued.
Besides this, Akbar has been given the additional charge of human resource DG and he currently manages all the paperwork related to the documentation, hirings and related matters. Akbar now has the access to all the relevant documentation related to the case and can easily tinker with the record to his benefit, sources claimed.
They said the finance ministry had also termed the regularisation of these consultants into BPS-18 and 19 as illegal, adding that other officials had voiced concerns over these appointments, terming them illegal but the BISP high-ups never paid any heed and suppressed their voices.
Sources further told Pakistan Today that both individuals have been rewarded illegally in one way or the other against the rules. They have at time been given four bonuses at once, which is against the government’s established policy since 1995 of not granting more than one honorarium, they said.
Similarly, the government had introduced a ‘monetisation’ scheme under which the government-owned cars were allowed to be sold at depreciated rates to civil servants of BS-20 and above. Yet, both these individuals were not only gifted government cars through this scheme, despite lacking the criteria to avail them, but also continue to avail substantial monetisation allowances, sources claimed.
The Audit and Inspection Report for the Audit Year 2012-13 entails the irregular appointment of both these officials, observing that “the criteria for appointment was not followed during the appointment of these officers… [An] undue favour was extended to these officers”.
Successive audit reports, which time and again pointed out the irregularities, were ignored by the BISP management.
It is pertinent to mention here that the appointments in BPS-16 and above in government, semi-government or autonomous bodies can only be made by the FPSC through a fair and competitive process whereby the vacancies are first advertised. This stands true for hiring through CSS and FPSC technocratic seats or through regularisation.
Responding to the matter, the BISP secretary said that Akbar and Khan are two of the best officers who originally belong to the BISP cadre, calling them honest and hardworking. The programme’s senior official said that there was an ongoing propaganda to defame them through false claims.
