ISLAMABAD, Feb 18: The government decided on Friday to send home nine superannuated civil servants re-employed against important positions, including the Sindh police chief, managing director of the Pakistan Housing Authority (PHA), director general of ports and shipping and the executive director of an e-government project of the information technology ministry.
According to an official, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani has approved the move and the list of the sacked officials will be presented to the Supreme Court.
The prime minister had asked the secretaries of the cabinet and establishment divisions to follow the court’s directives to the government to review the cases of all officials whose services had been rehired after their retirement.
The contracts of the following officers have been terminated: Inspector General of Sindh Police Sultan Salahuddin Babar Khattak (BS-22); PHA Managing Director Mohammad Ali Afridi (grade-22); Sindh Intelligence Bureau Joint Director General Tariq Jamil; IB Deputy Director General Asghar Mahmood, Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) Member Abdul Wadood Khan (Grade-22), E-Government Executive Director Amer Shahzad (MP-1), Pakistan Railways Police Additional IG Mian Akhtar Hayat, Ports and Shipping Director General S.M. Hassan Zaidi and Gilgit-Baltistan Headquarters Deputy IG Lt-Col (retd) Farman Ali.
Establishment Secretary Chaudhry Abdul Rauf had presented to the court a list of 15 officials whose names had been cited by the two-member committee for removal.
However, after deliberations and consultation with the law minister, the government sacked nine of them.
Those who escaped the axe are; Sindh Police DIG Major (retd) Khurram Gulzar; Sindh Training DIG Nadir Hussain Khoso; Larkana Range DIG Din Mohammad Baloch; Port Qasim Authority Deputy Secretary Mohammad Zamir Farooqui; Federal Investigation Agency Director General Waseem Ahmed and the National School of Public Policy’s Staff Director Brig (retd) Shahid Akram Kardar.
The Supreme Court had ordered the scrutiny of the rehired officials holding important posts after criticising the FIA director general for his allegedly biased investigation into the Haj scam and removing him from the case.
The establishment division has sought from all government divisions the details of employees appointed on contract after retirement.
The Punjab government has terminated the services of seven retired officers and informed the court that the record is being examined to ensure the implementation of its directive.