August 11, 2008	Monday	Sha’aban 8, 1429

KARACHI, Aug 10: The Sindh government, keeping with its nearly two-decade-old tradition, has once again selected a non-technical person to head the Sindh Environmental Protection Agency, it has been reliably learnt.

Sources said that under the relevant recruitment rules a candidate must have a doctorate degree in environmental engineering plus work experience in the related field to be appointed to the post of director-general. But since Sepa’s establishment in the mid 1980s, the Sindh government has been somehow successful in ensuring that no technically qualified person is posted as its DG. For the last two decades, people with irrelevant qualifications have been posted as Sepa’s head.

The sources said that Mohammad Ali Shaikh, who has been lately posted as the director-general of Sepa, was an engineer. Though he had a doctorate degree in social science, sources said, the qualification required for the post was a doctorate degree in environmental engineering plus work experience in the related field. Dr Shaikh was primarily a teacher and basically an employee of the education ministry, the sources said, adding that he had served in the Sindh Madressahtul Islam, education department and ombudsman office.

The sources said that the Sindh government’s notification quoting the recruitment rules and educational qualifications for the Sepa DG prescribed two procedures for the appointment: One was “by promotion from amongst the directors (technical), in BPS 19, having at least 17 years in BPS 17 and above or 12 years experience in BPS 18 and above or length of service as prescribed by the government.”

And in case no suitable person was available by promotion, the other procedure was through “initial appointment” for which the educational qualifications are mentioned as: “(i) Ph.D in Environmental Engineering from a recognised university with seven years experience in research / management projects dealing with pollution control practices relating to air, noise, water, solid and hazardous wastes. (ii) postgraduate degree in environmental engineering with at least second division from a recognised university having at least 10 years experience in research / management of projects dealing with pollution control practices relating to air, noise, water, solid and hazardous wastes.”

The sources said that the first director-general of Sepa, Mehfooz Mustafa, was basically a trader. He held the post from March 1989 to October 1990. He was succeeded by S.R. Chhoda, who retained the post for nearly six weeks from November 1990 to December 1990. His successor T.A. Jafri held the post for only three weeks from December 1990 to January 1991.

Then entered the longest serving DG, Mehtab A. Rashdi, who had a degree in political science and international relations. She was a teacher at the Sindh University. Later she got a posting in a library in Karachi and joined the Sindh government. She was then posted in Sepa. She remained DG for seven years from January 1991 to December 1997 till a retired brigadier Akhtar Zamin was hired on a contract basis and posted as Sepa’s head. He served the organisation for a little over three years till February 2001.

From February 2001 to May 2001, the post was held by another non-technical person Naseem Haider, who had succeeded the retired brigadier. Shamsul Haq Memon, the then environment secretary, held the additional charge for around 10 months till February 2002 when he was relieved by Shafiq Khoso, a district management group official.

Mr Khoso was posted twice as the Sepa DG. His first tenure was spread over a year and a half from February 2002 to October 2003. During his second tenure, Mr Khoso retained the post from July 2004 to February 2005.

Sandwiched between Mr Khoso’s two tenures was a six-month period during which Sepa was headed by Younus Dagah. He remained in the position from December 2003 to July 2004 despite his lack of relevant qualifications for the post. Iqbal Nafees also held the post for a brief period from February 2005 to June 2005. Even briefer was the period of his successor Naseer Jamali who remained the DG for four months till January 2006.

Nazneen Naz Ansari, who was also a non-technical person, remained in the position from January 2006 to September 2006. She was succeeded by Abdul Malik Ghouri who held the post for a year and a half till he left for training in March 2008.

His successor was Ali Ahmad Lund, who had expertise in the trade and commerce sector but not in environment-related issues. He retained the position for around six months till he was posted as Hyderabad DCO in July 2008. Sindh Environment Secretary Mir Hussain Ali kept the additional charge till the posting of Dr Mohammad Ali Shaikh who took the charge on August 5.

The sources said that the post of Sepa DG was vital to regulate the industries and other polluters and implement the environment protection laws. They said since its establishment, the organisation had been headed by non-technical persons which could be cited for the deteriorating environment situation.