Senior ECP officials jockey for extension
Mumtaz Alvi
Monday, January 07, 2013
From Print Edition
ISLAMABAD: Facing retirement just before and after the upcoming general elections, some senior officials of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) have started lobbying to get extension, sources in the commission told The News.
Additional Secretary Muhammad Afzal Khan and Mehboob Anwar, a provincial election commissioner (PEC), are among those retiring just before and after the elections.
Afzal Khan, who worked as information secretary on deputation under Chief Minister Akram Khan Durrani-led MMA government in the then NWFP during Pervez Musharraf regime, was made Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Election Commissioner after Mirzas term ended in March last year. However, he was brought back and made additional secretary. He will retire on May 17.
Another officer, Ghias-ud-Din Balban, Joint Secretary Local Government, will retire on June 20, while DG Budget Imtiaz Alam will also superannuate on June 25. Mehboob Anwar will reach the age of superannuation on Dec. 20 this year. Qazi, Balban and Imtiaz all hail from Hazara belt.
However, it remains to be seen if Chief Election Commissioner Justice (R) Fakhruddin G Ebrahim, known for his credibility and adherence to the Constitution and the Supreme Court judgments and orders, would favour the aspirants.
Unlike, the ex-Chief Election Commissioner Hamid Ali Mirza, Justice Shakirullah Jan, who took over as the acting ECP, rejected such favors to Additional Secretary Akhtar Hussain Sabir, the then Election Commissioner Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Sher Afgan and Joint Provincial Election Commissioner Punjab Sh. Jalil Ahmad, who had retired in April and May last year respectively.
We are confident that the chief election commissioner will not go against the clear orders of the Supreme Court that has ruled that extensions should in no way be given to the retiring officials, the sources said when asked about the chances of repetition of the practice last year.
But his predecessor Hamid Ali Mirza had ignored the apex court order and a few weeks before his exit gave a further two-year contractual job (extension) to Sonu Khan Baloch as the Sindh Election Commissioner and one-year extension to Additional Director General Budget Qazi Muhammad Khurshid. Qazi was to retire on Feb. 1, 2012. Now his contract is exhausting on Jan. 31.
The sources said extension in the services of retiring officers would block the promotion of junior officers and those awaiting promotion after the retirement of seniors.
Irked by the trend of giving extensions by the former chief election commissioner, the then Regional Election Commissioner, Lahore, Ishtiaq Ahmad Rana, who was privy to the hectic efforts by a group of retiring officers for re-employment at that time, had written to the chief election commissioner, reminding him that extensions supported the doctrine of nepotism and favoritism.
He said Islam and the Constitution also discouraged this practice and supported the principle of equality.The officer told the CEC that being the senior most officer in grade-19 he was going to retire on Nov. 5 this year and noted that extensions to the retired officers would bring him financial losses.
Ishtiaq contended that the government had prescribed age limit for the retirement of every official in view of the concept that till the age physical and mental abilities remain active, making one fit enough to discharge the official business.
If it had not been like this, then the government employees would have been in service till death. It is the universal law that people come and go. If there had not been the concept of death then the world would have filled by now, leaving no space for the newborns, Ishtiaq said in his letter to the then CEC.
http://www.thenews.com.pk/Todays-News-2-152928-Senior-ECP-officials-jockey-for-extension
Mumtaz Alvi
Monday, January 07, 2013
From Print Edition
ISLAMABAD: Facing retirement just before and after the upcoming general elections, some senior officials of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) have started lobbying to get extension, sources in the commission told The News.
Additional Secretary Muhammad Afzal Khan and Mehboob Anwar, a provincial election commissioner (PEC), are among those retiring just before and after the elections.
Afzal Khan, who worked as information secretary on deputation under Chief Minister Akram Khan Durrani-led MMA government in the then NWFP during Pervez Musharraf regime, was made Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Election Commissioner after Mirzas term ended in March last year. However, he was brought back and made additional secretary. He will retire on May 17.
Another officer, Ghias-ud-Din Balban, Joint Secretary Local Government, will retire on June 20, while DG Budget Imtiaz Alam will also superannuate on June 25. Mehboob Anwar will reach the age of superannuation on Dec. 20 this year. Qazi, Balban and Imtiaz all hail from Hazara belt.
However, it remains to be seen if Chief Election Commissioner Justice (R) Fakhruddin G Ebrahim, known for his credibility and adherence to the Constitution and the Supreme Court judgments and orders, would favour the aspirants.
Unlike, the ex-Chief Election Commissioner Hamid Ali Mirza, Justice Shakirullah Jan, who took over as the acting ECP, rejected such favors to Additional Secretary Akhtar Hussain Sabir, the then Election Commissioner Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Sher Afgan and Joint Provincial Election Commissioner Punjab Sh. Jalil Ahmad, who had retired in April and May last year respectively.
We are confident that the chief election commissioner will not go against the clear orders of the Supreme Court that has ruled that extensions should in no way be given to the retiring officials, the sources said when asked about the chances of repetition of the practice last year.
But his predecessor Hamid Ali Mirza had ignored the apex court order and a few weeks before his exit gave a further two-year contractual job (extension) to Sonu Khan Baloch as the Sindh Election Commissioner and one-year extension to Additional Director General Budget Qazi Muhammad Khurshid. Qazi was to retire on Feb. 1, 2012. Now his contract is exhausting on Jan. 31.
The sources said extension in the services of retiring officers would block the promotion of junior officers and those awaiting promotion after the retirement of seniors.
Irked by the trend of giving extensions by the former chief election commissioner, the then Regional Election Commissioner, Lahore, Ishtiaq Ahmad Rana, who was privy to the hectic efforts by a group of retiring officers for re-employment at that time, had written to the chief election commissioner, reminding him that extensions supported the doctrine of nepotism and favoritism.
He said Islam and the Constitution also discouraged this practice and supported the principle of equality.The officer told the CEC that being the senior most officer in grade-19 he was going to retire on Nov. 5 this year and noted that extensions to the retired officers would bring him financial losses.
Ishtiaq contended that the government had prescribed age limit for the retirement of every official in view of the concept that till the age physical and mental abilities remain active, making one fit enough to discharge the official business.
If it had not been like this, then the government employees would have been in service till death. It is the universal law that people come and go. If there had not been the concept of death then the world would have filled by now, leaving no space for the newborns, Ishtiaq said in his letter to the then CEC.
http://www.thenews.com.pk/Todays-News-2-152928-Senior-ECP-officials-jockey-for-extension