AJK Inland Revenue boss only twice in his head office

Believe it or not, the head of the Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) Department of Inland Revenue has attended his office in the state capital Muzaffarabad only twice after assuming this position on deputation basis in June last year.

The services of Muhammad Waseem Altaf, a BPS-19 officer of the Inland Revenue Service of Pakistan, were placed at the disposal of the AJK Council on June 13, 2014, following which he was appointed as Commissioner Inland Revenue, a BPS-20 post, as well as head of the AJK’s Department of Inland Revenue.

The AJK Department of Inland Revenue falls under the administrative control of the AJK Council, which is headed by the Prime Minister of Pakistan.

Federal Minister and Federal Secretary for Kashmir affairs happen to be the in-charge minister and in-charge secretary of the AJK Council.

After hardly a month, Mr Altaf was also given the charge of Commissioner Provincial Taxes, another BPS-20 post in the Department of Inland Revenue.

As per rules, an official on deputation cannot be promoted by the borrowing department. However, surprisingly Mr Altaf was offered not one but two BPS-20 posts in contravention of rules.

The standing instructions of Establishment Division clearly state that when a higher post falls vacant in an organisation the senior most official in that organisation shall be conferred current charge promotion.

However, in the AJK Department of Inland Revenue, two BPS-19 officers who qualified for promotion in next grade were refused their right, apparently for not being acceptable to the buyable bosses of the AJK Council.

Interestingly, despite being offered the charge of both offices, Mr Altaf came to Muzaffarabad in August for the first time to have an introductory meeting with the staff based at the headquarters of the AJK Department of Inland Revenue.

Afterwards, he visited his office in Muzaffarabad for the second and so far for the last time some three months ago to chair a meeting on revenue targets, sources in his office say.

On Friday last, when a similar meeting was held in the AJK Finance Department, Mr Altaf did not turn up there and instead sent his special assistant Mr Asim Shaukat to represent him.

It may also be interesting to mention here that Mr Shaukat, who was inducted in 2003 as assistant collector central excise in BPS-17, is currently holding the charge of three posts – assistant collector (BPS-17), deputy collector (BPS-18) and additional collector (BPS-19), thanks to Mr Altaf's special blessing.

Sources allege that in fact Mr Shaukat calls the shots in the AJK Department of Inland Revenue on behalf of Mr Altaf, who is more interested in poetry and movies than his job.

When this scribe contacted Mr Altaf on telephone on Thursday evening and asked him why he had not been attending his office in Muzaffarabad, he replied: “I visit that place (Muzaffarabad) as and when it is required.”

When asked how many times he had visited Muzaffarabad over the past 11 months, he gave a terse reply: “Several times.”

He stressed that the headquarters of AJK Department of Inland Revenue was in Mirpur and not in the state capital Muzaffarabad.

Interestingly, during the telephonic conversation with this scribe, Mr Altaf also claimed that he was speaking from Muzaffarabad. He declined to answer more questions on phone and instead invited this scribe to see him in his office in Muzaffarabad on Friday, perhaps assuming that this scribe was based in Islamabad and could hardly travel to Muzaffarabad to verify his presence.But, when this scribe visited his office in Muzaffarabad on Friday, it transpired that “the commissioner had not been there for many months.”

“He is in his Mirpur office and not here,” one official told this scribe, but declined to be identified.

It may be mentioned here that Mr Altaf is one of those officers who were recently ignored by the prime minister of Pakistan for promotion in BPS-20, reportedly on the issue of integrity.

Tariq Naqash