Appointments against Supreme Court orders: TI-Pakistan lodges complaint with Prime Minister

Transparency International-Pakistan had lodged a complaint with the prime minister on the appointments of heads in various organisations, against Supreme Court orders dated July 12, 2014 in Khawaja Asif constitutional petition No 30 of 2013 by passing Federal Commission for Selection of Head of Public Sector Organisations (FCHPSO).
Chairman, TI-Pakistan, Sohail Muzaffar in a letter sent to the prime minister on July 11, 2014 referred to its letter dated May 20, 2014, objecting that the advertisement given in newspapers for the six positions in the government department is discriminatory and non-transparent and against the policy of zero tolerance against corruption, announced in 2013 election manifesto of PML-N.
Unfortunately, the MoF and other ministries never bothered to follow the rules of law, and have made many appointments in various PE, and autonomous/semi autonomous bodies, directly, bypassing FCHPSO constituted on July 17, 2013, headed by Abdul Rauf Chaudhry Federal Tax Ombudsman (FTO), Shams Qasim Lakha and Dr Ijaz Nabi nominated as two members. This commission was formed in compliance with the Supreme Court of Pakistan Judgement dated June 12, 2013 in Const. P. No 30 0f 2013.
This Commission having fixed tenure of four years to ensure appointments in statutory bodies, autonomous bodies, semi-autonomous bodies, regulatory authorities to ensure appointment of all the government controlled corporations, regulatory authorities, autonomous and semi-autonomous bodies, etc has been rendered dormant by nominating two members who did not join for many months, and a HR consulting firm was awarded unsolicited contract by the secretaries of finance and law ministries and cabinet division. Millions of rupees were wasted in coloured half pages advertisement, foe positions like Governor SBP, President NBP, Chairman SECP, Chairman PNSC, Chairman KPT, CEO TDAP, Chairman SSGCL, Chairman SNGCL, Chairman PQA, Chairman Pakistan Steel, MD PTV and many more.
Further the Ministry of Finance has got appointed many positions directly bypassing this FCHPSO commission. The establishment division also on January 13 issued notifications with the approval of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, in which it exempted appointments on key posts in organisations including: National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra), Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra), Public Procurement Regulatory Authority (PPRA), Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA), Trade Development Authority (TDAP), State Life Insurance Corporation, Competition Commission of Pakistan, Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan, Pakistan Agriculture Research Council, Pakistan Medical and Dental Council, Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan, Evacuee Trust Property Board, Engineering Development Board, Pakistan Industrial Technical Assistance Centre, Small and Medium Enterprises Development Authority, State Cement Corporation, National Database and Registration Authority (Nadra), Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (Pemra), Lok Virsa, National Telecommunication Commission (NTC), Telecom Foundation, Pakistan Baitul Maal and Alternative Energy Development Board (AEDB).
In this regard, on June 20, 2014, Justice Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui of the Islamabad High Court (IHC) had restrained the federal government from making appointments on high-profile positions that violate the Supreme Court verdict in the Khawaja Asif case. The federal government and the three-member commission formed for four years, is to strictly follow paragraph 26 of the Supreme Court verdict, which reads as under:
Be that as it may, in order to ensure the enforcement of the fundamental rights enshrined in Article 9 of the Constitution and considering it to be a question of public importance, a Commission headed by and comprising two other competent and independent members having impeccable integrity, may be the Federal Ombudsman or Chairman NAB or a Member of Civil Society having exceptional ability and integrity, is required to be constituted by the Federal Government through open merit based process having fixed tenure of four years to ensure appointments in statutory bodies, autonomous bodies, semi-autonomous bodies, regulatory authorities to ensure appointment of all the government controlled corporations, autonomous and semi-autonomous bodies, etc. The Commission should be mandated to ensure that all public appointments are made solely on merits and should discharge mainly the following functions:
(i) Regulate public appointments processes,
(ii) Implement a Code of Practice that sets out the principles and core processes for fair and transparent merit-based selections;
(iii) (iii) chair the selection panels for appointing heads of public/statutory bodies and chairs and members of their boards, where necessary;
(iv) (iv) appoint Public Appointments Assessors to chair the selection panels for appointing heads of public/statutory bodies and chairs and members of their boards, where appropriate;
(v) report publicly on a public/statutory body's compliance with the Code of Practice, including examples of poor and good performance, and best practice;
(v) Investigate complaints about unfair appointment process;
(vi) Monitor compliance with the Code of Practice;
(viii) Ensure regular audit of appointments processes within his remit; (ix) Issue an annual report giving detailed information about appointments processes, complaints handled, and highlights of the main issues which have arisen during the previous year. The annual report for the previous calendar year should be laid before the Parliament by 31st March,
(x) Take any other measures deemed necessary for ensuring that processes for public sector appointments that fall in his remit are conducted honestly, justly, fairly and in accordance with law, and that corrupt practices are fully guarded against.
Sohail Muzaffar has requested the Prime Minster to take immediate steps to remove all such illegal appointees, as their appointments are contempt of Supreme Court of Pakistan Judgement dated June12,2013 in Const. P. No 30 0f 2013, as all of them have been appointed without processing by FTO Commission.
The Prime Minster has further been requested to direct the FCHPSO Commission to process appointments of all government controlled corporations, regulatory authorities, autonomous and semi-autonomous bodies, etc within shortest period of time. Copies of the letter have been forwarded for the action under rules to immediately address this major act of contempt of court, in order to have good governance in Pakistan: Chairman, NAB, Islamabad, Chairman, PAC, Islamabad, Registrar SC, Islamabad, Secretary Cabinet Division, Islamabad, and Minister Finance, Islamabad.