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| October 5, 2005 | Wednesday | Sha’aban 30, 1426 |
Salman made Punjab chief secretary
LAHORE, Oct 4: Finance and Taxation Principal Secretary Salman Siddique was posted on Tuesday as Punjab Chief Secretary in place of Mr Kamran Rasool who proceeded on leave.
Mr Rasool has been changed amidst a reported controversy about an IT contract involving a Malaysian company. A media report on the issue was however rejected by the Punjab government as baseless.
The report claims that Mr Rasool has been made an OSD on the complaint of the Malaysian company which accused the former chief secretary of trying to get cancelled its contract for procurement of ‘smart cards’ by the Information Technology Board and awarding the same to Nadra in violation of the business rules.
According to an Establishment Division notification, Mr Salman Siddique, a BS-22 officer of the Secretariat Group, has been transferred and posted as chief secretary. Mr Kamran Rasool has proceeded on what sources say a three-month leave.
Commenting on possible reasons of Mr Rasool’s transfer, some senior officials at the Civil Secretariat said that he might have been relieved of his duties to join a foreign bank. Others think that political confrontation regarding the local government elections may have led to his transfer.
Unconfirmed reports said Mr Rasool, who rushed to Islamabad on Monday night after reports of his transfer, has been granted leave on his request. He also reportedly called on President Pervez Musharraf.
Mr Salman Siddique has served as the Punjab finance secretary, joint secretary in the cabinet secretariat’s establishment division, provincial census commissioner, secretary implementation and coordination, secretary to the chief minister and managing director, TDCP. He has twice served as the Lahore division commissioner and Gujranwala deputy commissioner.
He did his masters in English literature from the Punjab University in 1972-73 and MSc in social policy and planning in developing countries from the London School of Economics and political science in 1983.
Mr Kamran Rasool was posted as the chief secretary by Chief Minister Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi upon the retirement of Mr Hafiz Akhtar Randhawa on Dec 25, 2003. Before this, he was on leave, serving in one of the mills of the Chaudhry family.
Meanwhile, in a handout a spokesman of the provincial government said the reasons attributed to the transfer of Mr Rasool in a media report were totally false and baseless. The postings and transfers of civil servants was a matter of routine and attributing any particular incident to it was baseless.
He defended the award of contract to Nadra on the ground that it was a government organization and the award involved a saving of Rs 1.75 billion for the provincial government.
He said this decision was well considered and based on the recommendation of a technical committee. No decision-maker could ignore such a huge saving for the national exchequer, especially when the organization involved was a well-reputed public sector body.
The spokesman said no instructions were received from the prime minister on the contract in question. There was also no indication by his secretariat that the matter was discussed during the prime minister’s visit abroad. In fact, the prime minister’s secretariat had also informed the Punjab government that the contents of the news item were entirely baseless, the spokesman added.
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