'Lent officers also make hay while the sun shines'

By Tariq Naqash
MUZAFFARABAD, June 7: In yet another act of ‘generosity’ at the cost of poor taxpayers, Prime Minister Sardar Attique Ahmed Khan has ordered provision of some certain facilities to all those retired federal government officers who have ever served in Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) as chief secretary.
“The government has been pleased to order that the facilities approved for the chief secretaries to the AJK government, vide a notification dated 15-06-2006, shall continue and apply to all the chief secretaries who have served in AJK, irrespective of the fact whether they retired as chief secretary AJK or thereafter,” read an official notification issued by the Services and General Administration Department (S&GAD), here the other day.
But when asked to comment, AJK Finance Minister Abdul Rashid Abbasi candidly said he was not aware if any such notification had been issued.
According to the June 2006 notification, which was issued when the region was going through the hubbub of electioneering in the aftermath of devastating October 2005 earthquake, "the government was pleased to grant exemption to the retired chief secretaries from taking out licences for possession of up to one prohibited bore and two non-prohibited bore weapons, free access to all government guesthouses, rest houses, circuit houses in AJK and Kashmir House Islamabad, pick up and drop facility at Islamabad airport with protocol coverage, provision of a staff car for a maximum of three days during stay at Kashmir House Islamabad, services of a driver and a cook, to be appointed by the beneficiary by himself, for life time."
Although the notification had drawn flak for the reason that being a federal government officer, the AJK chief secretary was not a liability of the cash strapped AJK government, the AJK finance department had granted financial concurrence from March 1, 2007 for creation of six each posts of drivers and cooks in BPS-4 and BPS-1, respectively, for the former chief secretaries.
During posting in AJK, a chief secretary draws his salary from the federal exchequer while his accommodation, vehicles and other facilities are arranged and sponsored by the state government.
The controversial notification was allegedly imitated from a similar document issued by the Punjab government but it carried ambiguities which appeared to have been left unaddressed deliberately, according to official sources.
In May 2008, the S&GAD had sought a decision from Prime Minister Attique regarding revocation or protraction of the said notification after withdrawal of financial concurrence to the new posts by the finance department.
However, the move was shelved after opposition by the then chief secretary Javed Majeed. Ironically, the prime minister had also seconded the opinion of his confidant chief secretary.
The fresh notification, according to sources, was issued to remove the “ambiguities” in the initial (June 2006) document to extend these benefits to all those chief secretaries who had either retired from service during their posting in AJK or had held this office prior to their retirement from any other position in Pakistan.
However, even the fresh notification had deliberately overlooked another important issue regarding the place of permanent residence of former AJK chief secretaries after their retirement from the Central Superior Services.
Official sources lamented that while AJK was facing severe resources constraints the government was issuing such notifications only to please the federal government officers from the taxpayers’ money.
When contacted, a source in the finance department told this scribe that they will have to arrange funds for provision of these facilities to at least eight former AJK chief secretaries.
“We are born to serve and we cannot raise any objection,” remarked the source , cynically.
According to official record, of the nearly 39 chief secretaries who served in AJK after 1947, the only one who rose to this position from the AJK services was Mr Abdul Haq Suharwardy (1969-71) while the rest were CSP officers.
Ends