LAHORE: The Punjab caretaker chief minister is going to discard all the “unnecessary” public sector companies formed mainly by his predecessor Shahbaz Sharif in a day or two, official sources informed Dawn on Thursday.

Mr Hassan Askari Rizvi has already ordered removal of all the political appointees and elected people belonging to the 2013-18 assemblies from the companies.

Officials claimed that the total number of the public sector companies which functioned under the PML-N’s Punjab government was over 71, but out of them 62 were active.

They said the department concerned had already asked all administrative secretaries to prepare a list of the companies which could be closed. The chief minister was likely to decide which company to retain and which to discard in a meeting in a day or two, an official added.

He claimed that the name of Mr Shahbaz Sharif was withdrawn from the companies being questioned by the NAB before the culmination of his tenure in the CM office on May 31.

Officials explained that the previous government had four months ago ordered all the departments to identify politically appointed people in the public sector companies, point out the companies which they considered should be disbanded and seek permission from the competent authority for doing the needful.

The same decision was taken by the caretaker cabinet in its first meeting, and a letter asking the departments to remove all the political appointees from the companies was issued four days ago.

The officials said there were two types of political appointees – those appointed by virtue of their office like the ministers of the departments related to companies, and the ones by virtue of their political position.

They claimed that Engineer Qamarul Islam, a PML-N candidate for the NA-59, Rawalpindi, who has been arrested by the NAB on charges of forging documents and awarding contract for water filtration plants at higher rates, was made a part of the Saaf Pani Company by virtue of his political position. Other such examples include former provincial minister Zaeem Qadri, his wife and some other relatives.

The officials said all the departments were required to remove such persons from the companies before June 30.

Meanwhile, it is learnt that the chief minister is scheduled to have his first meeting with the administrative secretaries in the Civil Secretariat on Friday morning.

The secretaries were expected to brief Mr Rizvi on the functioning of their departments, but he could also choose to deal with the companies’ issue on the occasion.

Published in Dawn, June 29th, 2018