LAHORE, Dec 26: Bank of Punjab chairman Kamran Rasool assumed charge of the Punjab chief secretary, here on Friday.

He is considered to be a close aide of Punjab Chief Minister Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi and was the provincial government’s only nominee for the post.

He had taken two-year leave during the military government of President Gen Pervez Musharraf and took to work for a mill of Pervaiz Elahi. He rejoined the government service after Mr Elahi took over as the chief minister, and believed to have guided him on administrative matters.

Mr Rasool joined the Civil Services of Pakistan in 1972. He has served as deputy commissioner of Kasur, Muzaffargarh and Jhelum, and commissioner Gujranwala.

He has also served as Punjab food, industries and education secretary, and additional secretary in the interior division.

Talking to reporters, he said he would try to give a sense of security to the people and ensure posting and transfer of officials purely on merit.

Mr Rasool said he would also ensure effective implementation of development schemes and improvement in the government service delivery through monitoring. He disagreed with a reporter that magisterial powers for the local government officials were necessary for the implementation of special laws.

“It is a wrong assumption that the executive magistrates can control overcharging. The problem did exist in the presence of executive magistracy and prices are always determined by market forces. The officers with magisterial powers had failed to control prices during this Ramazan,” he said.

The chief secretary said it was the duty of the government officials to ensure success of the devolution plan, which had improved the working of health and education departments.