ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) is examining the authority of the Ministry of Inter-Provincial Coordination (IPC) of superseding the decision of Pakistan Sports Board (PSB).

The question whether the IPC ministry can overturn the decision taken in the PSB meeting arose in the hearing of a petition filed by the officers of the sports board against slashing of their executive allowance.

The petitioners were aggrieved by the discontinuation of their executive allowance by the IPC ministry vide the impugned letter dated May 10. The letter also ordered recovery of all executive allowances paid thus far.

The counsel for the petitioner contended before the court that the executive allowance was approved by the PSB board in its 28th meeting, whereas the impugned letter was issued directly by the ministry.

IHC Justice Sardar Ejaz Ishaq Khan asked the counsel to assist the court on the next date of hearing on the question of legal competence of the ministry to issue directions of the nature made in the impugned letter, with reference to the parent statute and also in respect of the budgeting and expenditure of PSB being subject to direct regulation by the IPC ministry.

Following the 18th amendments when several ministries had been devolved, the then government entrusted key departments to the IPC ministry including Economic Coordination Committee (ECC), Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), Pakistan Sports Board, Federal Land Commission and National Internship Programme.

The ECC and PCB, however, had already been placed under the Cabinet Division whereas the status of chairman of the Federal Land Commission was equivalent to that of the federal minister, hence, it did not come under the purview of the IPC ministry. The only fully functional entity under the IPC ministry is the PSB.

According to a senior official, the IPC ministry was among those ministries that had been shortlisted to abolish.

However, initially, the size of the ministry had been reduced, the posts of an additional secretary, two joint secretaries, two deputy secretaries and six section officers had already been abolished in the ministry.

The official said in order to show its efficacy, the IPC ministry was focusing on the PSB, and assigned key post of the sports board to its own officials in the absence of the former director general, Shoaib Khoso, who was on leave.

Upon Khoso’s return, Deputy Director General Mansoor Ahmed Khan wrote a letter to the IPC secretary against these postings, and an official challenged the posting orders before the IHC.

A couple of days later, the contract of DG Khoso was terminated, Mansoor Khan was transferred from the PSB to the IPC ministry and the official who had petitioned before the IHC was suspended.

The charge of PSB director general has been given to Additional Secretary Zahoor Ahmed.

Sources said the acting DG PSB rarely visited his office in the Sports Complex and was running the official affairs through a deputy director general who is working because of an interim order of the IHC.

On Sept 30, 2020, the high court’s single member bench had demoted him to the post of director. On Dec 10, 2020, the division bench of the IHC issued a stay order till the next hearing enabling him to retain the present post. However, his case could not be decided even after a lapse of about four years, as it was fixed for hearing only a couple of times and was re-listed without any proceeding 16 times.

IPC Secretary Nadeem Irshad Kayani, who also served in the IHC as registrar, when approached, did not comment. However, the additional secretary and acting DG PSB Zahoor Ahmed said if the interim order that favoured the officer could not be lifted and his case could not be fixed, the IHC registrar office would explain the delay.

He however said that since there was no senior officer of the rank of deputy director general, therefore, the core responsibilities had been assigned to the officer currently holding the post due to a stay order.

Published in Dawn, May 19th, 2024