Lahori paa jee
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The scope of the lucrative six-figure pay package for top management position (MP), being raised up to Rs 349,000 per month, has been contentiously widened to feed well even the serving and retired government officials, who otherwise are not eligible to draw this huge salary.
Introduced basically to attract experts of international standing from the private sector to lead public sector enterprises, the MP scales are today available to even ordinary serving and retired officers. Many of such lucky souls are even working in the ministries, divisions and the attached departments.
The MP scales carry pay packages that are far more attractive even than those available to any of the country's top constitutional office holders.List of those, at present, drawing MP scales shows that the MP-I package, which was originally meant for the top man in a public sector enterprise, is being offered to subordinates in the ministries and divisions including even the finance ministry that is the author of these scales.
The MP appointments in different ministries/divisions speak volumes about the violations of the Finance Ministry's orders but there is no one to take corrective measures. Instead the MP scales are being offered to more and more persons with every passing day but without following the spirit of the scheme.
According to an office memorandum (OM), issued by the Finance Ministry on August 18, 1998, the government has introduced the MP scales to attract "professionals from private sector" for appointment on contract basis against "Top Management Positions (MP)" in the public sector.
The OM said that MP-I is meant for professionals from the private sector proposed to be appointed on a contract against the position of chief executive in the public sector while the salary and perquisites package MP-II are meant for professionals from the private sector proposed to be appointed on a contract basis against senior executive positions in the public sector.
Two weeks later, on September 1st, 1998, the Finance Ministry's regulation wing issued yet another OM introducing MP-III to be offered to "professionals from the private sector" proposed to be appointed on contract in the public sector against the third tier of management positions.
The above two OMs of the Finance Ministry clearly said that the MP scales would only be offered to those joining the top management positions in the public enterprises from private sector.
Since the lucrative MP scales were not open for the serving and retired bureaucrats, including serving soldiers and ex-servicemen, so an amendment was introduced to the Finance Ministry's OMs on May 8, 2001. The amendment introduced through an OM announced that the earlier OMs were partially modified to allow the government servants who "compete" with private sector professionals and also fulfil the qualifications and experience prescribed for the post which are advertised, subject to the condition that serving government servants would either resign from government service or seek retirement.
The amendment said that the serving officers only after leaving the government job could get MP scale contract job but only on the basis of open and transparent competition.But when one goes through the list of those enjoying MP scales, it becomes evident that a large number of retired officers are hired on MP scales but without transparent procedure as laid down by the finance ministry's OM.
For example Dr Muhammad Akram Sheikh, who is Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission, is a retired government employee enjoying the status of a minister of state but still enjoying MP-I scale. His appointment was not the consequence of any competition.
Interestingly under Sheikh seven out of total eight members are drawing MP-I scale, which, according to the Finance Ministry, is meant for only "top management position". The job of commission's member was previously a BS-21 slot but recently it has been made a MP-I position. Most of the incumbent members are retired government officials including a retired general but interestingly none of them have been appointed through open competition that involves newspaper advertisement, short listing, interviews etc.
The members drawing MP-I salaries include Lt-Gen (retd) Zubair, Shaukat Hameed, a retired electronic engineer of the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission; Asad Ali Shah a former CSP, who had reportedly left the government service and joined the Asian Development Bank many years ago and was removed from service for his unauthorised absence; Kausar Abdullah, also a retired engineer of Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission; incumbent director PIDE Nadeemul Haq; and recently retired secretary cabinet Ejaz Rahim.
In the Finance Ministry we have Dr Ashfaq Hasan, Director-General, Debt Office, drawing MP-I salary. Hasan claimed that he resigned from the government job to qualify for the MP-I slot. He said that his appointment was made through a transparent procedure, however, insiders in the Finance Ministry say that the slot Dr Ashfaq Hasan occupies could not be described as top management position in a public enterprise. A source asked if Hasan was fit to be appointed as the DG Debt Office, then why the government did not simply post him against this slot when he was still in service and had not resigned.
Under the Establishment Division, the Rector National School of Public Policy (NSPP) Lt-Gen (retd) Javed Hasan and DG Civil Service Reform Unit (CSRU) Maj Gen (retd) also enjoy MP-I scales. Both of these officers were the pure political appointees were recruited against the positions they are presently holding without any transparent procedure as envisaged in the finance ministry's OM.
Dr Ishrat Hussain-led National Commission on Government Reforms (NCGR) has also been formally offered the MP pay scales. While Hussain was given MP-I scale, the members of the commission were given MP-II pay packages.
The members of the commission include Shafqat Jamote, ex-federal minister; Shams Lakha of the Aga Khan Rural Support Programme; Asad Jehangir, retired inspector-general police; Farooq Rehmatullah, industrialist; Dr Abdul Malik Kasi, ex-minister health; Shahid Hafeez Kardar, son of former Pakistan cricket hero Hafeez Kardar, running private educational institutions. Most of the members of the commission had no experience of the job they are assigned. Both the chairman and members of the commission were appointed purely on pick and choose basis.
The National Reconstruction Bureau (NRB) is an interesting study in this respect. The NRB chairman, who leads the bureau, is not drawing the MP scale. It has four members. Strangely two are in BS-21 while the other two are drawing MP-I salary. Justice (retd) Amjad Hussain and Riaz Khan are enjoying MP-I package but none of them were appointed through any transparent procedure rather are pure political appointees.
The list of beneficiaries of this particular exploitation of the MP scales, of the non-eligible serving and retired officials or those from the private sector who are allowed these special scales as a favour by the rulers, is long. There are, however, quite a few who deserve to be offered the package.
Under the federal government a number of posts have been earmarked as MP posts, which make it possible for favourite retired and serving officers to drawn hefty salary without any legal justification but merely by virtue of holding those positions that were offered to them by the competent authority.
There is no complete updated list of those who at present, enjoy, justifiably or unjustifiably, MP-I scale. But the names that could be gathered include those of Air Marshal (retd) Shahid Hamid, Chairman Alternate Energy Development Board; Farooq Rahmatullah, DG CAA; Lt-Gen (retd) Zulfiqar Ali Khan, Chairman, Evacuee Trust Property Board; Zarine Aziz, President, First Women Bank Limited; Khurshid Anwar, MD, Government Housing Limited; Naeem Iqbal, MD, Industrial Development Bank of Pakistan; Dr Shireen M Mazari, DG, Institute of Strategic Studies; Ghalib Nishtar, President, Khushali Bank; Rear Admiral Iftikhar Ahmed, MD, Karachi Shipyard and Engineering Works; Khalid A Mirza, Chairman, Monopoly Control Authority; S Ali Raza, President, National Bank of Pakistan; Dr Ishrat Hussain, Chairman, National Commission for Government Reforms; Dr Arfa Sayeda Zehra, Chairperson, National Commission on Status of Women; Brig (retd) Saleem Ahmad Moeen, Chairman, Nadra; Maj-Gen (retd) Zafar Abbas, Chairman, National Fertilizer Corporation; Dr Saeed Shafqat, Executive Director, National Investment Trust; Maj-Gen (retd) Syed Shahd Mukhtar Shah, DG National Institute of Science and Technical Education; Munir Ahmad, Chairman, Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority; Dr Muhammad Tasneem, Chairman, Pakistan Agricultural Research Council; Naeem Tahir, DG, Pakistan Council of Arts; Iftikhar Rashid, Chairman, Pemra; Vice-Admiral (retd) Syed Touqir Hussain Naqvi, Chairman, Pakistan National Shipping Corporation; S Naseem, Chairman, Pakistan Security Printing Corporation; Salman Javed, MD, Pakistan Tourism Development Corporation; Dr Akram Sheikh, Deputy Chairman, Planning Commission; Dr Sabur Ghayur, Chairman, Policy Planning Cell; Razim Rehman Khan, Chairman, Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan; Mansur Khan, President, SME Bank; Munawar B Ahmad, MD, Sui Southern Gas Company Limited; Dr Naveed Akhtar Malik, Project Director, Virtual University; Tariq Hamid, Chairman, Wapda.
The following names of those enjoying MP-I scale are found from a list prepared last year, so there is a possibility that it may have some names, who have already quit. The list includes the names of Akbar Ali Pesnani, Chairman, Gwadar; Rahat Sadiq, Executive Director, PRCL; Tariq Kirmani, Chairman, PIA; Prof DM Tahir Consultant, Review of Curriculum; Waqar Nasir, Director, Academy of Education Planning and Management; Lt-Gen (retd) Javed Hasan, Rector, NSPP; Maj-Gen (retd) Asif Riaz Bokhari, DG, Civil Service Reform Unit; Dr Ashfaq Hasan Khan, DG, Debt Office, Finance Ministry; Maj-Gen (retd) Shahzada Alam, Chairman, PTA; Mahreen Aziz, Medical Adviser to PM; Lt-Col (retd) Syed Akbar Hussain, Chairman, PACO; Justice (retd) Amjad Ali, Member NRB; Riaz Khan, Member, NRB; Dr Saeed Shafqat, Executive Director, NIP; Waseem Haqee, Board of Investment; Athar Maqsood Ahmad, Member, Fiscal Research Statistic, Revenue Division; Aamir Zafar Ch, Member, Information Management System, Revenue Division; Habib Fakhruddin, Taxpayer Education and Facilitation, Revenue Division; Mumtaz H Syed, telecom professional, Science and Technology; Tariq Badshah, Member IT, Ministry of Science and Technology; Raiz Ahmad Khan, Adviser Ministry of Water and Power; Chairman Pakistan Steels Mills; Khurshid Anwar, MD Government Holdings Limited; MD PTV; Lt-Col (retd) Syed Akbar Hussain, Chairman, Pakistan Automobile Corporation; Riziur Rehman Khan, Chairman, Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan; and Khalid Irfan Rehman, MD, Private Power and Infrastructure Board.
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Introduced basically to attract experts of international standing from the private sector to lead public sector enterprises, the MP scales are today available to even ordinary serving and retired officers. Many of such lucky souls are even working in the ministries, divisions and the attached departments.
The MP scales carry pay packages that are far more attractive even than those available to any of the country's top constitutional office holders.List of those, at present, drawing MP scales shows that the MP-I package, which was originally meant for the top man in a public sector enterprise, is being offered to subordinates in the ministries and divisions including even the finance ministry that is the author of these scales.
The MP appointments in different ministries/divisions speak volumes about the violations of the Finance Ministry's orders but there is no one to take corrective measures. Instead the MP scales are being offered to more and more persons with every passing day but without following the spirit of the scheme.
According to an office memorandum (OM), issued by the Finance Ministry on August 18, 1998, the government has introduced the MP scales to attract "professionals from private sector" for appointment on contract basis against "Top Management Positions (MP)" in the public sector.
The OM said that MP-I is meant for professionals from the private sector proposed to be appointed on a contract against the position of chief executive in the public sector while the salary and perquisites package MP-II are meant for professionals from the private sector proposed to be appointed on a contract basis against senior executive positions in the public sector.
Two weeks later, on September 1st, 1998, the Finance Ministry's regulation wing issued yet another OM introducing MP-III to be offered to "professionals from the private sector" proposed to be appointed on contract in the public sector against the third tier of management positions.
The above two OMs of the Finance Ministry clearly said that the MP scales would only be offered to those joining the top management positions in the public enterprises from private sector.
Since the lucrative MP scales were not open for the serving and retired bureaucrats, including serving soldiers and ex-servicemen, so an amendment was introduced to the Finance Ministry's OMs on May 8, 2001. The amendment introduced through an OM announced that the earlier OMs were partially modified to allow the government servants who "compete" with private sector professionals and also fulfil the qualifications and experience prescribed for the post which are advertised, subject to the condition that serving government servants would either resign from government service or seek retirement.
The amendment said that the serving officers only after leaving the government job could get MP scale contract job but only on the basis of open and transparent competition.But when one goes through the list of those enjoying MP scales, it becomes evident that a large number of retired officers are hired on MP scales but without transparent procedure as laid down by the finance ministry's OM.
For example Dr Muhammad Akram Sheikh, who is Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission, is a retired government employee enjoying the status of a minister of state but still enjoying MP-I scale. His appointment was not the consequence of any competition.
Interestingly under Sheikh seven out of total eight members are drawing MP-I scale, which, according to the Finance Ministry, is meant for only "top management position". The job of commission's member was previously a BS-21 slot but recently it has been made a MP-I position. Most of the incumbent members are retired government officials including a retired general but interestingly none of them have been appointed through open competition that involves newspaper advertisement, short listing, interviews etc.
The members drawing MP-I salaries include Lt-Gen (retd) Zubair, Shaukat Hameed, a retired electronic engineer of the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission; Asad Ali Shah a former CSP, who had reportedly left the government service and joined the Asian Development Bank many years ago and was removed from service for his unauthorised absence; Kausar Abdullah, also a retired engineer of Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission; incumbent director PIDE Nadeemul Haq; and recently retired secretary cabinet Ejaz Rahim.
In the Finance Ministry we have Dr Ashfaq Hasan, Director-General, Debt Office, drawing MP-I salary. Hasan claimed that he resigned from the government job to qualify for the MP-I slot. He said that his appointment was made through a transparent procedure, however, insiders in the Finance Ministry say that the slot Dr Ashfaq Hasan occupies could not be described as top management position in a public enterprise. A source asked if Hasan was fit to be appointed as the DG Debt Office, then why the government did not simply post him against this slot when he was still in service and had not resigned.
Under the Establishment Division, the Rector National School of Public Policy (NSPP) Lt-Gen (retd) Javed Hasan and DG Civil Service Reform Unit (CSRU) Maj Gen (retd) also enjoy MP-I scales. Both of these officers were the pure political appointees were recruited against the positions they are presently holding without any transparent procedure as envisaged in the finance ministry's OM.
Dr Ishrat Hussain-led National Commission on Government Reforms (NCGR) has also been formally offered the MP pay scales. While Hussain was given MP-I scale, the members of the commission were given MP-II pay packages.
The members of the commission include Shafqat Jamote, ex-federal minister; Shams Lakha of the Aga Khan Rural Support Programme; Asad Jehangir, retired inspector-general police; Farooq Rehmatullah, industrialist; Dr Abdul Malik Kasi, ex-minister health; Shahid Hafeez Kardar, son of former Pakistan cricket hero Hafeez Kardar, running private educational institutions. Most of the members of the commission had no experience of the job they are assigned. Both the chairman and members of the commission were appointed purely on pick and choose basis.
The National Reconstruction Bureau (NRB) is an interesting study in this respect. The NRB chairman, who leads the bureau, is not drawing the MP scale. It has four members. Strangely two are in BS-21 while the other two are drawing MP-I salary. Justice (retd) Amjad Hussain and Riaz Khan are enjoying MP-I package but none of them were appointed through any transparent procedure rather are pure political appointees.
The list of beneficiaries of this particular exploitation of the MP scales, of the non-eligible serving and retired officials or those from the private sector who are allowed these special scales as a favour by the rulers, is long. There are, however, quite a few who deserve to be offered the package.
Under the federal government a number of posts have been earmarked as MP posts, which make it possible for favourite retired and serving officers to drawn hefty salary without any legal justification but merely by virtue of holding those positions that were offered to them by the competent authority.
There is no complete updated list of those who at present, enjoy, justifiably or unjustifiably, MP-I scale. But the names that could be gathered include those of Air Marshal (retd) Shahid Hamid, Chairman Alternate Energy Development Board; Farooq Rahmatullah, DG CAA; Lt-Gen (retd) Zulfiqar Ali Khan, Chairman, Evacuee Trust Property Board; Zarine Aziz, President, First Women Bank Limited; Khurshid Anwar, MD, Government Housing Limited; Naeem Iqbal, MD, Industrial Development Bank of Pakistan; Dr Shireen M Mazari, DG, Institute of Strategic Studies; Ghalib Nishtar, President, Khushali Bank; Rear Admiral Iftikhar Ahmed, MD, Karachi Shipyard and Engineering Works; Khalid A Mirza, Chairman, Monopoly Control Authority; S Ali Raza, President, National Bank of Pakistan; Dr Ishrat Hussain, Chairman, National Commission for Government Reforms; Dr Arfa Sayeda Zehra, Chairperson, National Commission on Status of Women; Brig (retd) Saleem Ahmad Moeen, Chairman, Nadra; Maj-Gen (retd) Zafar Abbas, Chairman, National Fertilizer Corporation; Dr Saeed Shafqat, Executive Director, National Investment Trust; Maj-Gen (retd) Syed Shahd Mukhtar Shah, DG National Institute of Science and Technical Education; Munir Ahmad, Chairman, Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority; Dr Muhammad Tasneem, Chairman, Pakistan Agricultural Research Council; Naeem Tahir, DG, Pakistan Council of Arts; Iftikhar Rashid, Chairman, Pemra; Vice-Admiral (retd) Syed Touqir Hussain Naqvi, Chairman, Pakistan National Shipping Corporation; S Naseem, Chairman, Pakistan Security Printing Corporation; Salman Javed, MD, Pakistan Tourism Development Corporation; Dr Akram Sheikh, Deputy Chairman, Planning Commission; Dr Sabur Ghayur, Chairman, Policy Planning Cell; Razim Rehman Khan, Chairman, Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan; Mansur Khan, President, SME Bank; Munawar B Ahmad, MD, Sui Southern Gas Company Limited; Dr Naveed Akhtar Malik, Project Director, Virtual University; Tariq Hamid, Chairman, Wapda.
The following names of those enjoying MP-I scale are found from a list prepared last year, so there is a possibility that it may have some names, who have already quit. The list includes the names of Akbar Ali Pesnani, Chairman, Gwadar; Rahat Sadiq, Executive Director, PRCL; Tariq Kirmani, Chairman, PIA; Prof DM Tahir Consultant, Review of Curriculum; Waqar Nasir, Director, Academy of Education Planning and Management; Lt-Gen (retd) Javed Hasan, Rector, NSPP; Maj-Gen (retd) Asif Riaz Bokhari, DG, Civil Service Reform Unit; Dr Ashfaq Hasan Khan, DG, Debt Office, Finance Ministry; Maj-Gen (retd) Shahzada Alam, Chairman, PTA; Mahreen Aziz, Medical Adviser to PM; Lt-Col (retd) Syed Akbar Hussain, Chairman, PACO; Justice (retd) Amjad Ali, Member NRB; Riaz Khan, Member, NRB; Dr Saeed Shafqat, Executive Director, NIP; Waseem Haqee, Board of Investment; Athar Maqsood Ahmad, Member, Fiscal Research Statistic, Revenue Division; Aamir Zafar Ch, Member, Information Management System, Revenue Division; Habib Fakhruddin, Taxpayer Education and Facilitation, Revenue Division; Mumtaz H Syed, telecom professional, Science and Technology; Tariq Badshah, Member IT, Ministry of Science and Technology; Raiz Ahmad Khan, Adviser Ministry of Water and Power; Chairman Pakistan Steels Mills; Khurshid Anwar, MD Government Holdings Limited; MD PTV; Lt-Col (retd) Syed Akbar Hussain, Chairman, Pakistan Automobile Corporation; Riziur Rehman Khan, Chairman, Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan; and Khalid Irfan Rehman, MD, Private Power and Infrastructure Board.
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