ISLAMABAD, March 18: Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf has appointed former federal secretary Aziz Bilour as member (social sector) of the planning commission while President Asif Ali Zardari has appointed Asif Usman Khan as Controller General of Accounts.

Sources said the post of planning commission’s member social sector, had fallen vacant about four months ago on completion of the contract of Saba Gul Khattak. Her replacement Aziz Bilour is a brother of former railways minister Haji Ghulam Ahmad Bilour. He recently retired as federal secretary on reaching the age of superannuation.

With Bilour’s appointment the planning commission will now have six members. Three of them from Punjab – Dr Samar Mubarakmand, Shahid A. Sattar and Mohammad Javed Malik -- two from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa – Aziz Bilour and Lt. Gen (retd) Shahid Niaz -- and one Ghulam Mohiyuddin Marri from Balochistan. Sindh has no representation in the commission.

Earlier, the Sindh government had demanded induction of a member from Sindh in the planning commission on the post of member (food and agriculture) but the federal government appointed a former secretary of planning commission, Mohammad Javed Malik, from Punjab as member (food).The President appointed Asif Usman Khan, a BPS-22 officer of the Pakistan Audit and Accounts Service, as controller general of accounts. The post has been lying vacant since August 2012 but was being looked after by Mr Farhad Khan, who was originally holding the charge of controller general of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Mr Farhad Khan was looking after both posts, the controller general accounts of the federation and controller general of KPK, even though a provincial controller general is answerable to controller general of accounts.

An official said that appointment of Asif Usman as controller general of accounts would limit the administrative powers of the Auditor General of Pakistan Akhtar Buland Rana who had recently developed differences with ministry of finance, the administrative ministry of the auditor general of Pakistan and controller general of accounts.

The presidential notification came after a decision of the government to separate the functions of the audit and accounts.—Staff Reporter