NTDC chief’s post: Former official points to ‘irregularities’ in appointment process

ISLAMABAD: The process of appointment of new regular managing director (MD) of the National Transmission and Despatch Company (NTDC) has reportedly been fraught with illegalities, whims, and a clear-cut conflict of interest.

Well-informed sources told Business Recorder, the organisation first, hired so-called international experts who had to be sacked, being unsuitable for the job.

Former Managing Director Pepco Tahir Basharat Cheema in a letter to Secretary Power has shown a matrix of various advertisements published in newspapers for solicitation of applications during the last nearly decade or so.

He said qualifications mentioned in these advertisements mostly remain open-ended (anyone would do) and away from the requirement for a specific electrical engineering professional who can run the NTDC in accordance with its licence. The prescribed age has been oscillating between 55 to 62 years, with no specific justification for it being fixed so.

According to the letter, this all leads to the sad conclusion that each effort was in order to bring in someone of choice having no connection at all to the actual requirements.

Cheema maintains that a basic need assessment of the position leads to the conclusion that the MD has to be a professional power utility manager, highly-accomplished electrical engineer, one who holds institutional memory and has full ability to deliver, adding that his research paper on selecting senior management for the power sector clearly lays down the requirements, which are also substantiated by the SECP in its fit and proper criteria for selecting CEOs for public-sector entities.

He is of the view that the required professional cannot be restricted to being below 55 years or 58 years of age as it would be exclusionary for the best of the power utility professionals. Thus, the solicitation has to be for someone who is 62 years old or less.

He has further stated that in view of the current shenanigans in preparing open-ended advertisements for the position of the MD NTDC, the present advertisement could be for someone who has been a MD WASA somewhere.

He has suggested the Power Division to take up the issue with the NTDC or its Board whose chairman had also been dismissed from the position of the CEO GHCL so that a suitable person is appointed MD NTDC on a regular basis.

Meanwhile, the Power Division, in a letter to the NTDC has directed the NTDC to dispense with services of Manzoor Ahmed, deputy managing director (AD&M) by serving one-month notice as his appointment has come under extensive scrutiny at higher forums, owing to his ‘reputation’.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2022