ISLAMABAD, May 23: Faisal Sakhi Butt lost his title of chairman, prime minister’s task force on the Capital Development Authority in a court battle but seemingly not his position. Wednesday’s newspapers advertised him as the prime minister’s chief coordinator for Islamabad.

The advertisement said: “The citizens of the capital city congratulate Faisal Sakhi Butt for his appointment as the chief coordinator of the city.

“We are grateful to the prime minister from bottom of our heart for making this visionary decision.”

The advertisement further read: “In the journey of making Islamabad an exemplary city people of Islamabad are with the leadership wholeheartedly.”

Minister for Information and Broadcasting Qamaruz Zaman Kaira also threw his weight behind Mr Butt.

At post-cabinet committee meeting press conference, a journalist asked the minister to comment over the appointment of Mr Butt as the chief coordinator of the city, he said: “The court said that the forum (prime minister’s task force) is not right so we have fixed it.”

But a senior civil servant questioned the authenticity of the notification saying in the absence of local government system it did not have any legal standing.

Sajjad Cheema, an advocate of the Islamabad High Court, when asked to give his opinion over the matter said: “The federal government has made a mockery of the court ruling by reappointing Mr Butt as chief coordinator of the city, though it does not have any legal status.”

The civil servant on condition of anonymity remarked: “The chief commissioner runs the Islamabad Capital Territory administration having a control over the rural and urban area of the city.

“It’s defined in the rule book that the chief commissioner has the powers like a governor, chief secretary and power of provincial government rests with his office since Islamabad has no provincial assembly and has no representative body like a local government system.”

He said that such appointments that had political and legal ramification were notified by the prime minister through the office of the federal cabinet secretary.

However, a notification from the office of the principal secretary to the prime minister for key postings has no legal standing until issued through proper channel by the secretary of the cabinet division or after Law Division’s consultation.

It is pertinent to mention that the chairman office of the Capital Development Authority has verbally been informed about the new notification of Mr Sakhi as chief coordinator of the city.

Despite multiple attempts, Faisal Sakhi Butt could not be contacted for his comments.