The government has terminated the services of 41 officials, including six retired army officers, for their alleged involvement in illegal recruitments at Pakistan Agricultural Storage & Services Corporation Limited (Passco) during the period of last interim government back in 2013.
The sources said the alleged illegal appointments of 41 people were made in Passco in May/June 2013 despite a ban on any hiring. They include six retired army officers - Lieutenant Colonel Syed Waqar Haider (Retd), Lieutenant Colonel Shahid Mehmood (Retd), Lieutenant Colonel Hamayun Shaukat Mirza (Retd), Lieutenant Colonel Muhammad Tabraiz (Retd), Colonel Ghafoor Arshad (Retd) and Major Javed Iqbal (Retd).
They said that those who were illegally appointed in Passco were removed from service on June 2, 2016. Out of 41 recruits, 24 were placed in officers' posts, including a deputy general manager in BS-19, eight project managers in BS-18, four deputy project managers in BS-17, and the rest in BS-16, said sources. They said that following the recruitment, Passco Staff Union wrote a letter to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif complaining about irregularities in the recruitment process.
The Prime Minister took notice of the complaint of Passco staff union and sought a report from Ministry of National Food Security and Research (MNFS&R) regarding the matter, sources said, adding that the ministry had then submitted a report to Prime Minister's Secretariat. Source said that National Accountability Bureau (NAB) is also conducting an inquiry against the then Managing Director (MD) and Management of Passco on charges of alleged Illegal recruitment in Passco during the interim government's period - May/June 2013.
The above two officials were also accused of leaking examination papers for the recruitment test. The NAB inquiry has not yet been finalised, they said. Captain Tariq Masud (Retd), Managing Director (MD), Passco could not be reached for his comments. Lieutenant Colonel Syed Waqar Haider (Retd) while talking to Business Recorder termed all allegations regarding the hiring process baseless, saying the hiring of 41 people including six retired army officials was done purely on merit and one month before the formation of the interim government.
He said that a Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) official found no irregularity in the recruitment process and suggested to regularise their services. Despite regularising the services of 41 employees, PASSCO management terminated their services on June 2, this month. He said that he along with a colleague, had obtained stay order against the removal. Passco maintains strategic reserves of wheat and other specified commodities besides procuring food commodities at government's fixed support price. Its primary responsibility is to play a key role in provision of food security at national level as well as to ensure availability, accessibility, affordability of food grains specially wheat at national level to all wheat deficit provinces, ie, Gilgit-Baltistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), Balochistan, Azad Jammu Kashmir (AJK) and Armed Forces of Pakistan.