134 government organisations, departments sans heads

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government is running the affairs of key departments on an ad hoc basis with acting charge given to heads of several government ministries/departments.

During an anecdotal survey carried out by Business Recorder, it was revealed that the top bosses of some important departments have obtained stay orders from courts against their removals.

In a recent report submitted to the Cabinet, the Establishment Division identified 134 vacancies of Chief Executive Officers (CEOs), Managing Directors (MDs), Chairmen, Director Generals (DGs) and heads of organisations in corporations, autonomous and semi-autonomous bodies in 27 ministries and divisions.

To date there is no permanent CEO of PSM; on 24 September, 2019, acting CEO of Pakistan Steel Mills (PSM), Ashique Ali, resigned from his position.

The post of permanent CEO PSM has been vacant since April 2016 and on December 9, 2019 PSM Board's HR Committee short-listed five candidates for the position out of 36 applications received and interviews are scheduled to be held next week. Air Marshal Arshad Malik, was appointed Managing Director/ CEO, Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) on April 26, 2019. On October 1, 2019, Supreme Court dismissed petitions challenging his appointment.

On June 14, 2019, the Islamabad High Court issued a stay order against the federal government's notification removing former federal tax ombudsman Muhstaq Sukhera.

Former Inspector-General of Police (IGP) Punjab, Mushtaq Sukhera was appointed federal tax ombudsman in Aug 2017 by the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) government.

The Competition Commission of Pakistan (CCP) chairperson Vadiyya Khalil along with two members - Dr Muhammad Salim and Shehzad Ansar - obtained stay orders in Islamabad High Court (IHC) against their termination. The IHC, in its short order on Nov 3, 2018, suspended the operation of the government's notification of CCP members' termination.

The dismissal of the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) chairman (Policy Board) Khalid Mirza was challenged and the court suspended the government's August 23 notification for his dismissal. Khalid Mirza was appointed to this post in November 2018 for four years.

Additional charge of Pakistan Agricultural Research Council (PARC) chairman was given to Additional Secretary Muhammad Ayub Chaudhry Ministry of Food Security and Research secretary and was challenged in the court.

In September 2019, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) declared before the IHC that the order issued by President Dr Arif Alvi for the August 22, 2019 appointment of two ECP members from Sindh and Balochistan was violative of relevant clauses of the Constitution. In a related development, a reference was filed against former Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) former Justice Sardar Mohammad Raza Khan for refusing to administer the oath to the ECP members and warned of serious consequences.

In oil and gas sector, various acting Managing Directors have been working in Oil and Gas Development Company Limited (OGDCL) for the last ten years because of prolonged court case against the appointment of a permanent MD, Senate Standing Committee on Petroleum was informed.

The appointment of Muhammad Arif, as Member Gas, Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra) is linked to the outcome of litigation in Islamabad High Court (IHC). In November 2019, Federal Cabinet approved the appointment of Muhammad Arif subject to final outcome of the court case in the matter.

The post of the Member (Gas) fell vacant on December 22, 2016 and has been advertised four times since. The last time it was advertised was on February 10, 2019, offering median of MP-1 scale but remains vacant to date.

In October, 2019, the Board of Directors of the Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited (SNGPL) assigned the acting charge of MD to Amer Tufail following the retirement of Mahmood Zia. Amer Tufail is deputy managing director of the SNGPL.

"The government has no criteria or commission to monitor the performance of bureaucrats and PM Office is issuing termination notices of bureaucrats without adequate information about their performance," Advocate Supreme Court Muhammad Shoaib Shaheen told Business Recorder.

He further said bureaucrats do refrain from taking any major policy decision during the interim relief obtained from the court of law which is challengeable.

Audit report of Public Sector Entities 2018-19 submitted before the parliament, revealed that public sector enterprises were making fresh appointments, re-employing retired personnel and appointing consultants without observing regulations. Shortcomings in the hiring process were identified in the cases of Pakistan International Airlines (PIA), National Insurance Company Limited (NICL), House Building Finance Corporation (HBFC), Pakistan Industrial Development Corporation (PIDC), National Engineering Services Pakistan (NESPAK) and Utility Stores Corporation (USC).