ISLAMABAD: Petroleum Division is said to be making efforts to appoint Ahsan Khan as Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Pak-Arab Refinery Limited (Parco) but Establishment Division and headhunter firm terming him "unsuitable" for this position, well-informed sources told Business Recorder. Pak-Arab Refinery Limited (Parco) is a Public Sector Limited Company registered under the Companies Act, 2011. The Company was established as a venture between the Government of Pakistan (GoP) and Abu Dhabi Petroleum Investment Company (ADPIC) at a ratio of 60:40, respectively. Parco is a special company, whose affairs and operations are governed by a series of agreements between the GoP and Emirate of Abu Dhabi (EoAD).
In terms of Article V2 of the Participants Agreement, entered between GoP and EoAD, the Chief Executive of the Company shall be nominated by the GoP. The advertisement for the post of MD/CEO PARCO was published in newspapers on October 27, 2019 by a headhunting firm i.e. Sidat Hyder Morshed Associates (Pvt.) Limited (Consultant) which received a total of 127 applications, out of which 14 were shortlisted.
Subsequently, a High Powered Interview Committee (HPIC) was constituted comprising Minister for Energy (Chairman), Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Petroleum (Member), Secretary Petroleum (Member) and Additional Secretary (Policy) Petroleum Division (Member/Secretary). The committee was entrusted with the responsibility of conducting interviews of the shortlisted candidates and recommend a panel of at least three individuals in order of preference, for the position of MD/CEO Parco.
The HPIC conducted the preliminary interviews of the fourteen shortlisted candidates on Feb 26, 2020 and Feb 27, 2020. Resultantly, five candidates were shortlisted, who were re-interviewed on April 03, 2020.
HPIC recommended the following five candidates in order of priority, for appointment of any one amongst them as the MD/CEO Parco for a period of three years: (i). Ahsan Khan; (ii) Shahid Mahmood Khan; (iii) Yacoob Suttar; (iv) Akbar Ali Khan; and (v) Syed Zawar Haider. However, the consultant placed Ahsan Khan, Akbar Ali Khan and Syed Zawar Haider in the "not considered suitable' category as per their own devised methodology for shortlisting candidates. Petroleum Division is of the view that the opinion of the consultant is not binding on HPIC therefore the same applicants, when interviewed by HPIC, according to its own set of evaluation parameters, were found suitable for the position of MD/CEO Parco.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2020