June 28, 2007	Thursday	Jamadi-us-Sani 12, 1428

ISLAMABAD, June 27: A Senate standing committee has found irregularities in the appointment of a retired brigadier as head of the Overseas Pakistanis Foundation’s education directorate.

The Senate’s standing committee on labour, manpower and overseas Pakistanis in a meeting held on Tuesday discovered that a special relaxation in age had been given to Brig Farogh Anjum to recruit him to the post of director education which controls 24 OPF schools and colleges all over the country. The appointment was challenged by Senator Enver Baig of the Pakistan People’s Party.

OPF’s Secretary Fazlur Rehman produced papers outlining the brigadier’s recruitment process.

According to the papers, the post was advertised on Feb 6, 2005 in some national dailies. The age limit was 50 years. But when it was found that the brigadier was 57 — seven years above the fixed age limit — a corrigendum was issued on Feb 18, 2005, raising the age limit to 55 years and also extending the last date for receipt of applications after getting a ‘ceremonial approval’ from the federal minister for labour, manpower and overseas Pakistanis. The brigadier was still three years more than the required age.

The OPF received 93 applications, of which 17 were short-listed for interviews. Among the applicants were about a dozen qualified candidates.

More than a dozen applicants were also in the age group required for the post and some even below that age. But rules were violated and they were bypassed, the brief on the appointment of Brig Farogh said.

Unlike other candidates, Mr Anjum is just an MA, the papers presented before the senate standing committee showed.

According to rules, the federal minister is not authorised to grant such a relaxation and only the OPF’s board of governors can amend rules for genuine reasons. The papers presented in the meeting clarified that the approval for the corrigendum was to be solicited later in the OPF’s board meeting.

When Senator Enwar Baig asked why the age relaxation was given when there were sufficient candidates in the required age group, the secretary OPF only answered that he was not the foundation’s secretary at that time.