The Auditor General of Pakistan (AGP) has termed the appointment of Executive Director (ED) Human Resources, Oil and Gas Development Company Limited (OGDCL) as irregular and sought explanation from the management for hiring a person of lesser qualification for the key post on contract against hefty salary packages.
In an audit para AGP said an advertisement published in an Urdu daily on November 20, 2005 gave the prerequisites for the post of ED (HR) and its minimum qualification was masters degree in the relevant field with 20 years experience.
It added that during the audit of OGDCL it was observed that contrary to the criteria for the appointment/selection of ED, Shahzad Saddan, who held BSc (four courses in Human Resources from IBA Karachi) was hired against a salary package of Rs 700,000 per month in addition to other benefits as per company rules.
The audit para said: "The facts indicated that Shahzad Saddan did not qualify even for short listing due to deficiencies in qualification and experience as required for the post and contrary to it the Resources Committee in its meeting held on February 13, 2006 interviewed him and recommended his name for the post of Executive Director Human Resources."
It added that the case was presented to the Board of Directors (BoDs) in its meeting held on February 23, 2006 for approval, which was duly accorded. The audit maintained that in order to cover up the deficiencies, this irregular appointment was again presented to BoDs vide agenda Item 77/15 in the meeting held on August 15, 2006 for waiver-off qualification/experience deficiencies which was also approved with the views that the rules for position of Executive Director (Human Resources) be relaxed in the case of appointment of Shahzad Saddan.
The audit noted that the personal file of the concerned officer was demanded vide requisition No 07, dated 31-01-2008 and subsequent reminders were also issued on 25-02-2008, 11-03-2008 and 17-03-2008, but OGDCL management did not produce it for consideration.
The audit was of the view that the appointment of the officer was irregular as healthy competition was not made and a candidate having lesser qualification and practical experience was appointed against the OGDCL services rules published in the newspapers on November 20, 2005, which is tantamount to undue favour to the candidate. It said this practice also deprived the most experienced and qualified persons from the highly specialised job of OGDCL.
Aftab Hussain, Audit Officer of OGDCL submitted the reply of the audit para wherein he reminded AGP of the board's powers to grant any salary package to any person hired on contract. His answer is enough to establish how seriously a public sector oil and gas company takes its rules and regulations when it comes to hire a person of its choice.
Hussain in the reply said that regarding appointment of ED (HR), it is stated that in response to our advertisement published in the newspaper on 20-11-2005, Shahzad Sadan had applied for the post. After scrutinising the applications, his case was put up to Human Resources Committee of the Board. The committee in its meeting held on February 13, 2006 interviewed him and also recommended his name for appointment. He also mentioned BoD's approval. The reply is the best way to cover up wrongdoings of the organisation.
Comments
Comments are closed.