MUZAFFARABAD, Jan 22: An influential member of the AJK cabinet is consistently using his clout to get his son appointed as a gazetted officer in sheer disregard to relevant rules and reservations by the concerned officials.
Documents made available to this correspondent and background interviews revealed that Sardar Sayab Khalid, minister for law, justice and parliamentary affairs, had been twisting he arms of electricity secretariat officials since long for the appointment of his son, Shehzad Khalid, as assistant engineer in BPS-17.
Succumbing to the pressure, the secretariat issued a ‘notification’ on December 11, appointing his son as sub-divisional officer (SDO) in Rawalakot.
However, neither did the notification mention basis of the appointment (ad-hoc or contractual) nor did it say anything about the fate of the incumbent SDO, Muhammad Imtiaz.
The ‘notification’ after being challenged by Mr Imtiaz was suspended by the Service Tribunal on December 20. However, before the tribunal could pass a final judgment, the law minister, in the meanwhile, managed issuance of a fresh notification from the electricity secretariat on January 15, whereby Mr Shehzad was ‘appointed’ as SDO Thorar in place of one Fazle Rabbi, who was transferred to Bagh.
Electricity department’s chief engineer (CE) Mushtaq Gaursi admitted before this correspondent that the appointment orders were flawed but said his office had never moved any such proposals.
According to witnesses and sources, the law minister had been personally visiting the chambers of the officials concerned and pressing them to issue the notifications about his son’s induction as per his will.
Credentials of Mr Shehzad revealed that he had studied BE (electrical) in University College of Engineering and Technology (UCET) Mirpur after securing less than 46 per cent marks in the FSc in 1995.
His session in the UCET ended in 1999 but he earned his degree in 2004 after appearing in supplementary exams between 2003 and 2004 and that too after being granted ‘special chances’ by the varsity.
In June 2002, when his qualification was simply FSc, he was appointed on temporary basis as sub-engineer (BPS-11) in the electricity department for six months. He had falsely claimed that he had appeared in the final exam of BE (Electrical) and was waiting for his result. As he could not provide his degree after six months, the temporary appointment as sub engineer was never renewed but he continued the job, exercising the powers of SDO, until the AJK Ehtesab Bureau took stock of it in May 2004. Mr Shehzad had also obtained a pre-arrest bail from the AJK High Court on May 26, 2004, to preempt any action by the bureau.
His father happened to be the Legislative Assembly speaker in those days.
Interestingly, the formal endorsement of that temporary service without formal orders was sought by Mr Shehzad in May 2010 after almost six years.
In May 2005, Mr Shehzad was appointed as ad-hoc assistant engineer (BPS-17) in the electricity department against the quota of Kashmiri refugees but when his service was terminated in June 2006 by CE he got interim relief from the apex court.
In June 2007, he was appointed on contractual basis in a foreign funded project where he continued till August last year. At the close of project he submitted a ‘joining report’ in the CE’s office which was rejected on the grounds that he was never a permanent employee of the department.
However, notwithstanding the CE’s stance, the law minister kept on pressuring that his son be regularized and promoted as ‘assistant engineer’ on the basis of his service as sub-engineer for “three years.”
Sources pointed out that Mr Shehzad had mentioned fake dates in his applications about his previous jobs, either on temporary or on ad-hoc basis, in a bid to prove there was no gap in his service.
The law minister had also got issued a favourable “legal opinion” for his son from the law secretariat. A source in the law secretariat confided to this correspondent that the opinion was formed “on the basis of the available record” and that they could hardly go against the interests of their minister.
Sources also disclosed that Mr Khalid had also threatened former Prime Minister Raja Farooq Haider against resignation from the cabinet if his son was not inducted. However, his efforts remained unsuccessful mainly due to strong resistance by the then secretary electricity Akram Sohail.
When quizzed about the case, the electricity minister Mirza Shafique Jaral tried to bail himself out by saying he had always passed directions that the case should be processed according to the rules.
When the law minister was asked as to how his son could be inducted as SDO without fulfillment of criteria, he claimed that the case had been properly processed.
However, as more questions were put to him in the light of the documents available with Dawn, the minister lost his cool.
“Don’t write anything on my behalf. You can write whatever you want,” he said and hung up the phone.
It may be recalled that Mr Khalid has often been accused of favourtism while holding official positions. In September 2004, he had also got his son, nephew and brother-in-law appointed in the Legislative Assembly secretariat as gazetted officers through a departmental selection committee which he headed as speaker.
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