LAHORE, Dec 14: The man who is supposed to be the major architect of the present Punjab government, outspoken Punjab Chief Secretary Hafeez Akhtar Randhawa, has refused extension of his service reportedly to avoid the “shortcomings of a borrowed life”.
“Mr Randhawa is considered close to the present setup in the country but he has refused an extension in service offered to him recently, to remain independent which he has always been,” official sources claimed here on Sunday.
Mr Randhawa is retiring on Dec 24 after holding many important positions and is known for his boldness. No-one knows who will be his successor but everybody says the DMG is going to lose a senior who has protected it at all fora during the reformation process led by Lt-Gen Tanvir Naqvi of the National Reconstruction Bureau.
Gen Naqvi wanted to re-organize the service structure at the federal and provincial levels and replace the DMG and PC services with central and provincial executive services just before the general election.
The president had postponed a meeting which was to decide the fate of DMG on a request by Mr Randhawa at the Governor’s House in Lahore. He later blasted the idea of reformation of the service structure at a meeting held in Islamabad, emphasizing the need for including the elected representatives in the process. The issue is awaiting decision at the federal level.
Mr Randhawa had also opposed elimination of the offices of the divisional commissioner, deputy commissioner and executive magistracy on the plea that they were more helpful in operating the trickle-down government policy and maintaining its writ at lower levels.
He has served as the Punjab home secretary and the deputy commissioner of Sialkot and Kasur. He was serving as the Faisalabad commissioner at the time of establishment of the last Nawaz Sharif government which made him an OSD along with some other officers. He was not reinstated during the Nawaz government.
He was made the Punjab chief secretary immediately after the takeover by President Pervez Musharraf.
Afterwards, he was transferred to the federal government after allegedly developing some differences with Gen Naqvi over the latter’s style of introducing local government system in the country.
When asked who could be the new incumbent, official sources said the favourite candidate for the Punjab government was Kamran Rasool but there could be some difference of opinion on his appointment at the federal level. Other candidates include Interior Secretary Tasnim Noorani and Shahzad Hasan Pervaiz, the latter having fewer chances because of his relations with former Sindh IGP Rana Maqbool.