Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (OGRA) has selected Imran Ghaznavi as Senior Executive Director (SED) for Corporate & Media Affairs, it is learnt. Reliable sources told Business Recorder here on Wednesday that the chairperson OGRA after assuming office on July 18, 2016 created the new position of SED for which an advertisement was published in national media on November 14, 2016 and interviews were conducted on December 15, 2016.
Sources privy to the developments told this correspondent that the new OGRA chief created this post to accommodate a person of her own choice. Sources added that the candidate was pre-decided and all the process was carried out to appoint an already decided person.
Sources believe that merit has not been followed in finalisation of candidate and compromises have been made to accommodate a person of choice. They also indicated that some candidate may challenge the decision in a court of law. The appointment has been finalised at a time when Member (Gas) OGRA, Amir Naseem is set to retire in a couple of days, as after his retirement the OGRA can not take any important decision due to lack of become quorum. According to the prevailing law, presence of three out of four members is essential. Interestingly, the post of Member (Oil) has been vacant since 2014 and after the retirement of the Member (Gas), the OGRA will not be in a position to make a new recruitment at a senior position.
OGRA Chairperson, Uzma Adil talking to this scribe said that the decision to appoint SED was made to give presentations over hosts of issues related to different functions of the Authority for which due process has been followed. She rejected the allegation that a man of her choice has been selected for the post, saying the recruitment has been made purely on merit. She said the appointed person has vast experience in handing media with top corporate organisations, including SECP. According to chairperson OGRA, the move has been taken to improve consultation with all the relevant stakeholders at federal and provincial levels.