ISLAMABAD: The Senate Standing Committee on Cabinet Secretariat on Wednesday criticised the handing over of control of the Capital Development Authority (CDA) to a politician.

The committee has decided to write to the Senate chairman and the leaders of the house and opposition, to take notice of the absence of the CDA chairman and the capital administration and development division (CADD) additional secretary at the committee meeting, without intimation.

The meeting was scheduled for 11:30am at Parliament House to discuss issues related to the CDA.

At 11:35am, the CADD minister Dr Tariq Fazal Chaudhry informed the committee chairman, Senator Talha Mehmood, that he would not be attending the meeting due to another engagement.

Mayor, CADD representatives’ failure to attend Senate body meeting upsets senators

The committee members decided to delay the meeting as the CDA chairman – and Islamabad mayor – Sheikh Ansar Aziz and the CADD additional secretary could not reach the meeting on time.

Since there was no representative from CADD and no one was aware whether any official from the division intended to attend the meeting, the committee members continued waiting past midday.

CDA Member Planning Waseem Ahmed Khan informed the meeting that since Mr Aziz is also the mayor, he had to attend a visit to the new Islamabad International Airport organised by the Civil Aviation Authority.

Mr Khan was initially unable to contact Mr Aziz, and when he eventually did, the mayor informed him that it would take him more than an hour to get to the committee meeting.

Senator Mehmood said he had been chairing committees for over a decade but he had not seen something like this happen before. He said this was the first meeting Mr Aziz had to attend, but he did not bother to do so.

“Even no one from CADD bothered to come, which shows how serious government departments are. If the mayor was not able to do his basic job, why was the charge of CDA given to him,” he said.

He said this showed that the CDA had been “hijacked”, adding: “I cannot understand why such an important office has been given to the mayor. Unfortunately, the PML-N talks big about the parliament while in opposition, but doesn’t care about it while in government.”

Senator Kalsoom Perveen said the handing over of control of the CDA to the mayor had created many problems. “It is the first time in the history of the CDA that the one window operation is suspended for the last 22 days. It is an insult to the committee that only one member of the CDA came to respond to senators.”

Ms Parveen claimed that former CDA chairman Maroof Afzal and member administration Amir Ali Ahmed left the authority in protest, because they did not want political interference.

Senator Nawabzada Saifullah Magsi said he travelled from Quetta in order to attend the meeting, but Mr Aziz and the CADD additional secretary did not bother to do the same.

“It is nothing but a waste of resources. We don’t come here just to make out allowances without working,” he said.

Senator Kamil Ali Agha said this kind of attitude should not be tolerated, particularly after what happened in the Public Accounts Committee, and Senator Hidayatullah Khan suggested that privilege motions be moved against the CDA chairman and CADD additional secretary.

Mr Mehmood decided to ask for the opinions of all senators, and it was decided that letters would be written to the Senate chairman and leaders of the house and opposition, to take notice of the incident.

The meeting was ended and a delegation of the senators when to the chamber of Leader of the Opposition Aitzaz Ahsan to discuss the matter.

Published in Dawn, September 22nd, 2016