The Cabinet Division has changed the rules to protect erstwhile caretaker prime minister, Mohammedmian Soomro's appointments on the public sector oil and gas companies' top positions and boards of directors.
Sources said the caretaker prime minister had made 27 appointments on PSO, OGDC, PPL, SSGC and Thar Coal Mining Company against rules without taking the Ministry of Petroleum (MoP) recommendations. As per rules, the government can appoint a person suitable for the job on the top position or the boards of directors on the recommendations of parent ministry, but a caretaker is not supposed to take on this job.
It is supposed to take only day-to-day decisions, and appointments of the boards and chief executives of the public sector oil and gas companies do not fall in the category of day-to-day business. The list of the new appointees as chief executives of different key public sector oil and gas companies and their board members clearly indicates that unlawful appointments were made by the caretakers to give jobs to friends or close ones, no matter they fulfilled the criteria or not.
Sources said that Soomro did not bother to take anything, including the criteria of 65 years of age for chairmen or members of the boards for setting an ugly precedent.
Business Recorder got the list of the appointments made by the caretaker government from November 15 2007 to mid-February 2008. It's being presented for the consumption of the public at large in general and for those in particular who claimed Mohammedmian Soomro's dignity and impartiality at various forums.
Lieutenant General Hamid Javed, Chairman (Parco); Muhammad Abdul Aleem, MD, PSO; Jehangir Khan, Senior Joint Secretary, Ministry of Petroleum; Azim Iqbal Siddiqui, MD, SSGC; Hidayatullah Khaishgi, (PARCO); Iftikhar Asghar (Parco); Sui Sourthern Gas Co: Salim Abbas Jillani, 04.02.2008 (date of appointment); Azim Iqbal Siddiqui, 27.10.2007; Moosa Raza Effendi, 27.10.2007; Saedullah Shah, 27.10.2007; Mahmood Akhtar, 27.10.2007; Abdul Rashid Lone, 27.10.2007; Zahid Hussain, 27.10.2007; Kamal Afsar, 27.10.2007; Prince Yahya Jan, 4.2.2008; Nawab Riaz Qureshi, 4.2.2008; Qasim Rabbani, 27.10.2007; Syed Naved Hussain, 4.2.2008; Aqeel Soomro, 4.2.2008; Iftikhar Asgher, 4.2.2008; Salim Abbas Jillani, 14.2.2008; Zahid Majid (OGDC); Irshad Ahmed Kaleemi, OGDC; Irshad Ahmed Kaleemi (PPL); Jehangir Khan, Joint Secretary (Thar Coal Mining Co); Iftikhar Asghar, Member (PSO) and Amin Pardessi, Member (PSO).
The Cabinet Division was well aware that the caretaker prime minister's action of these appointments was unlawful. It quickly moved by writing a letter to all ministries/divisions asking them to take approval from the competent authorities to cover the Caretaker Prime Minister's unlawful action. It wrote the first letter on October 9 and then keeping the urgency in view another one on November 26 last year.
The second letter was a kind of reprimand of those ministries which were not taking steps to protect illegal action of Mohammedmain Soomro. It said: "It has been brought to the notice of Cabinet Division that some Ministries/Divisions have implemented the orders of the Prime Minister without observing the requisite formality of processing necessary amendments in the existing laws and regulations and without obtaining the orders of the competent authority.
Paras 2'and 3 of the letter of 9th October, 2007 referred to above clearly spelt out the requirement of initiating amendments/modifications in various legislations with the objective of rationalising and standardising the provisions governing the terms of office and age limits of chairmen and members of regulatory authorities, autonomous bodies, corporations, commissions, etc.
The responsibility for processing requisite amendments rests with the administrative Ministries/Divisions. It may also be appreciated that removal of the present incumbents (Chairmen and Members), as the case may be would be irregular if notified without the approval of the competent authority.
It is reiterated that action to implement the orders of the Prime Minister may be taken after requisite amendments in the laws/regulations have duly been incorporated and approval of competent authority in each case is duly processed".
In the first letter it said: "The Cabinet Division undertook a comparative study of terms/tenures of offices of Chairmen and Members and their age units prescribed in certain laws governing Regulatory Authorities, Autonomous Bodies and Commissions. It transpired that a wide variety existed in these laws which required to be standardised.
On a Summary submitted to the Prime Minister with regard to terms and age limits of Chairmen and Members of Competition Commission and Gwadar Port Authority, the Prime Minister was pleased to approve that provision relating to the terms of office and age limits of Chairmen and Members prescribed in various legislations relating to Regulatory Authorities, Autonomous Bodies, Corporations and Commissions, etc may be standardised, as was done in the case of National Commission for Human Development, as follows".