RAWALPINDI, Sept 21: A serious row has developed between the station commander, Rawalpindi Cantonment Board (RCB), and the director-general Military Lands and Cantonments (MLCs) over the transfer of RCB and Chaklala Cantonment Board (CCB) employees to other stations, it has been learnt.
Director-general MLCs Major-Gen Mohammad Javed after assuming the charge of his office had started large scale reshuffles, transfers and postings in cantonments to weed out corrupt practices and reform and streamline the working.
The move was resented by the RCB station commander, Brig Hamid Khalil, after some transfers were carried out in Rawalpindi and Chaklala.
The RCB authorities have refused to comply with the directives of the MLCs chief on the plea that the transfers would adversely affect the working of the civic bodies. In a rejoinder to the DG, the station commander, Rawalpindi and Chaklala cantonments, has maintained that as the RCB was a premier cantonment he should had been consulted before transfer of any staff. The RCB executive officer has refused to carry out the orders of the director-general without obtaining concurrence of the garrison commander.
In a letter it has been stated that both the RCB and the CCB were facing acute shortage of staff and the transfer of the employees would adversely affect the functioning of the civic bodies.
The RCB authorities have taken a personal stand on the transfer of RCB revenue superintendent, who has been posted in Sindh, besides opposing the posting of a new sanitary inspector in the CCB after he was transferred from Sialkot cantonment, alleging that the official had a bad record.
The MLCs chief, in a reaction, has ordered more transfers from the RCB and the CCB. These are Sarfaraz Rana, transferred to Karachi cantonment; RCB sanitary inspector Sajjad Haider to Hyderabad; CCB LDC Inam Ali Shah to Hyderabad, RCB UDC Arshad Mehmood Tareen to Cantonment Board Peshawar; Mohammad Boota of the RCB engineering branch, transferred to Hyderabad, and CCB LDC Malik Tanvir to Malir, Karachi.
Sources told Dawn that some more transfers were expected in a few days. The cantonment authorities, however, have refused to comply with the orders.
The RCB authorities have filed over 300 petitions in different courts, filed by people, government departments and political figures. The civic body officials, who have always been complaining of financial constraints, have spent a huge amount on these litigations. The RCB has hired several legal advisers whose salaries and commissions consume a large chunk of its budget.