ISLAMABAD, Nov 6: The government re-employed former finance secretary Abdul Wajid Rana on Tuesday on a year-long contract in grade 22 and designated him as the ‘Principal Officer’ apparently to sidestep a court restriction on rehiring a retired officer for looking after the functions of finance secretary.

Mr Rana had relinquished the charge of finance secretary on Monday after reaching the age of superannuation.

When contacted, finance ministry’s adviser and spokesman Rana Asad Amin said the notification for re-employment of Mr Rana had been issued by the Establishment Division after approval by the prime minister.

An official at the Establishment Division said that under a Supreme Court order the government could not give extension to top civil servants in the same position after retirement but it had the power to hire someone on contract. He said the former secretary had been re-designated as principal officer but he would perform the duties of finance secretary.

But another official said the move would not meet the legal requirements because the secretary was the authorised position of the government to look after financial affairs of the state and he had to be a civil servant as defined in the Estacode (Civil Establishment Code) and rules of business.

He said the federal secretary was required under the rules to perform the duties of principal accounting officers. After retirement, an officer could neither be legally called a civil servant nor could he act as a principal accounting officer, he said. “Legally speaking, the finance ministry neither has a secretary for finance at the moment, nor a principal accounting officer.”