20 March 2004	Saturday	28 Muharram 1425

LAHORE, March 19: Political interference in the posting and transfer of officials is being cited as one of the major problems faced by the provincial government.

"Yes, this remains a problem despite the ban on transfers and postings imposed by the provincial government last year," official sources said on Friday.

They said it was happening due to various reasons, all of which were generated by elected representatives of people, including Nazims, MNAs and MPAs. According to the sources, the first kind of demands for the transfer or posting of officials was made by Nazims, MNAs and MPAs belonging to the same group who wanted a complete hold on the administration and did not tolerate those who would not bow to their whims.

The second kind of demands had its roots in differences between the Nazims and members of parliament and reflected a tug of war for power. But since the Nazims had legal authority to handle the subordinate officials, the MNAs or MPAs approached the provincial government to influence the former.

The third type of pressure was generated because of provincial government's desire to send suitable officials to districts and reluctance of the respective Nazims to accept them.

The sources said before the ban on transfers and postings, all Nazims, MNAs and MPAs used to approach the civil secretariat for getting the needful done, hampering the official work there.

But now they approached the chief minister's secretariat for the purpose. Those having a say there were sent to the officials concerned in the civil secretariat with recommendation letters specifying that changes should be made in accordance with the rules.

They said officials were transferred or posted only where rules permitted or a vacancy existed. Problems arose when it was not possible to do so under the rules as the elected representatives pursuing such cases would then press for their demands in their "own style".

There was a rush of people pursuing postings or transfers, and dealing with them required a lot of patience and tact. "We refer all the cases in which it is impossible to oblige the authorities concerned while trying to make it clear to the pursuing people that we are not doing this deliberately," an officer said.

The sources said except for Lahore the tussle regarding transfer and posting of officials did exist in almost every district. "There are 25 MPAs and nine MNAs in Lahore and thank God there is no such problem here."

They said at present the most problematic areas in this regard were Pindi Bhattian and Dera Ghazi Khan. The sources said that problems arose in matters pertaining to the posting and transfer of officials in the tehsil municipal administration where officials of BS-16 to -19 were working as TMOs or even TOs.

They said the recent transfer and posting of Sheikhupura DCO Tariq Najeeb Najmi provided ample proof of political interference in the process. He had been transferred from Toba Tek Singh and not allowed to be posted as the Attock DCO. "And everybody in Lahore heaved a sigh of relief when he finally managed to take charge of his office in Sheikhupura."