ISLAMABAD: The Federal Cabinet has reportedly set aside the recommendation of the Board of Directors (BoD) of Peshawar Electric Supply Company (Pesco) for appointment of Chief Executive Officer (CEO), well-informed sources told Business Recorder.
On August 3, 2021, Power Division apprised the Cabinet that PESCO was one of the ten Distribution Companies (DISCOs) under the administrative control of Ministry of Energy (Power Division). PESCO is a Public Sector Company (PSC) as defined under Section 2 (1) (54) of the Companies Act, 2017 (the Act) and Rule 2 (1) (g) of the Public Sector Companies (Corporate Governance) Rules, 2013 (the CGR).
The matters of appointment of the CEO of a Public Sector Company (PSC) are governed under Sections 187 and 188 of the Act, Rule 5(2) of the CGR and the Public Sector Companies (Appointment of Chief Executive) Guidelines, 2015 (the guidelines) and fit and proper criteria framed thereunder.
The Cabinet in its meeting held on December 15, 2020 approved the terms and conditions for appointment of CEOs of Discos, and accordingly, the BoDs of Discos initiated the process of recruitment. The post of the CEO Pesco was advertised on January 17, 2021. A total of 66 candidates applied for the advertised post. The Board evaluated the applications and shortlisted 18 candidates for final interview.
The BoD held interviews of 15 shortlisted candidates, and three candidates did not appear for the interviews. After detailed deliberations the BoD Pesco recommended the following panel of three candidates in order of preference for consideration for appointment of one of them against the post of CEO Pesco: (i) Shafiq-ur-Reham; (ii) Amjad Khan; and (ii) Jabbar Khan.
Power Division, in its summary, argued that Shafiq-ul-Hassan was the General Manager presently posted in Mepco, Multan. "The officer/candidate had a confrontational demeanor on even petty matters of postings and transfers during his service." The Power Division also argued that in case Shafiq-ur-Rehman is selected as the CEO Pesco, he might "continue with his unwarranted demeanor" in future, whereas Muhammad Amjad Khan had been appointed CEO Iecsco.
Power Division proposed that the candidate at serial number 3, Muhammad Jabbar Khan, might be considered for appointment as the CEO Pasco for a period of three years.
During a discussion, some of the members highlighted the prolonged periods of load-shedding in KPK. Minister for Energy explained that there was 20% increase in demand coupled with a shortfall in generation of hydro-electricity due to late melting of glaciers but the situation had improved since the last 15 days.
He maintained that there was no forced load-shedding in the province and any outages were due to breakdowns in the local transmission and distribution systems. It was pointed out that Rs 20 billion were being invested to upgrade the transmission and distribution network in the province.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2021
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