Search for new DG of KP’s accountability body starts

Four-member committee to hunt for suitable candidate

PESHAWAR: The four-member search and scrutiny committee is once again looking for suitable candidates for appointment as the director general of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Ehtesab Commission (KPEC) in place of Lt Gen (R)Hamid Khan who resigned on February 10.

The committee is headed by retired Inspector General of Police, Mohammad Abbas Khan. Its members include retired chief secretary Ejaz Qureshi, former Peshawar High Court judge Sher Mohammad Khan and ex-caretaker provincial minister Ms Musarrat Qadeem, who is head of a non-governmental organization.

The same committee had offered the job of director general to Lt Gen (R) Hamid Khan in late 2014 when the KPEC was set up by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI)-led provincial government to investigate and punish those suspected of indulging in corruption and misusing power. The choice was welcomed as the retired general was an apolitical person with a good
reputation.

The search and scrutiny committee will be expected to come up with another reputable candidate, though the new director general won’t have the powers that were given to the previous incumbent. Instead, the director general KPEC would have to contend with the five Ehtesab commissioners who have now been given some of the director general’s powers.

Former Peshawar High Court judge Hamid Farooq Durrani is the Chief Ehtesab Commissioner. The four other Ehtesab commissioners include educationists Mumtaz Khan and Sarwat Jehan, both retired directors of education, Col (R) Wahid Jan who served in the country’s premier intelligence agency for years and retired sessions’ judge Sahibzada Khurshid.

All of them were recommended for appointment by the search and scrutiny committee.  Following the recent amendments in the KP Ehtesab Commission Act 2014, the procedure for appointment of the KPEC director general must be completed within 120 days from the day the office became vacant.

The amendments, which generated a heated controversy and prompted Lt Gen (R) Hamid Khan to resign much before completing his four-year tenure also empowered Chief Ehtesab Commissioner Hamid Farooq Durrani to appoint an acting director general. There was no such provision in the law before the recent amendments. It is now up to the Chief Ehtesab Commissioner to appoint an acting director general or wait for the search and scrutiny committee to expedite its hunt for a suitable candidate for the job. Though the director general’s powers have been diluted as a result of the amendments, it will continue to be a coveted position for many candidates.

Meanwhile, it was learnt that some of the Ehtesab commissioners too aren’t satisfied with all the amendments in the KP Ehtesab Commission Act as they believe the KPEC has been rendered ineffective to tackle cases of corruption and ensure conviction of the suspects. Sources close to a few commissioners said the withdrawal of the power to seek suo moto notice of instances of corruption and misuse of power and the curtailment of the time allowed to investigate cases would hamper the working of the KPEC.

However, it isn’t clear how the Ehtesab commissioners would handle the situation as a statement issued on behalf of the Chief Ehtesab Commissioner Hamid Farooq Durrani after Lt Gen (R) Hamid Khan’s resignation welcomed the proposed amendments and termed them appropriate and suitable. It added that the amendments augured well for the institution as a whole as these aimed at enhancing its transparency and performance and removing the anomalies in the existing law.