Appointment of Fazl’s brother as refugees commissioner challenged in IHC

ISLAMABAD: At the recommendations of the Establishment Division, the Ministry of States and Frontier Regions (Safron) has appointed Maulana Fazlur Rehman’s younger brother, Ziaur Rehman as Commissioner Afghan Refugees (CAR) KP in sheer violation of the law, rules and regulations, alleged a petitioner before the Islamabad High Court (IHC).

Ziaur Rehman was an assistant divisional engineer at the PTCL till September 07, 2012 when the previous provincial government absorbed his services in Provincial Civil Service. Besides, Ziaur Rehman is a grade 18 officer while CAR is a grade 20 post, the petitioner further alleged.

Petitioner Muhammad Abbas Khan is a BPS-19 CSP officer of Secretariat Group and had been serving as CAR KP till the April 13, 2016 notification regarding appointment of Ziaur Rehman as CAR.

The petitioner has nominated secretary Establishment Division, Ziaur Rehman, district coordination officer (DCO) Khushab and secretary Safron Division as respondents.

Regarding his qualification, the petitioner told the court that he attended 17th Service Management Course (SMC) and was then appointed as CAR KP on September 15, 2015. He claimed his professional career is excellent which is evident from his ACRs and recently he was awarded with scholarship to attend 84th International Refugee Law Course at Italy and the petitioner has also attended International Summer School in Forced Migrations from the University of Oxford. These facts would explain about competency of the petitioner regarding his job, he said.

On April 13, 2016 the Establishment Division handed over services of Ziaur Rehman to Safron Ministry for his further appointment as CAR without any consultation with the provincial government. As per a notification dated August 28, 2015, it is mandatory that the postings and transfers of provincial commissioner for Afghan refugees and respective commissionerate staff would be carried out by the Safron Ministry in coordination with the provincial governments.

The petitioner alleged that while appointing Ziaur Rehman, no such coordination was seen. He said Ziaur Rehman does not belong to any cadre of civil service. He was among the eight officers who were inducted by the previous government in the Provincial Management Service and before that Ziaur Rehman was an employee of PTCL and subsequently absorbed in Provincial Civil Service on September 7, 2012.

The petitioner said that it is against the law to transfer a civil servant from his post before tenure of three years. In this case, he is been transferred after less than a year and without any exigency, petitioner said.

The petitioner prayed to the court to declare that the appointment of Ziaur Rehman unlawful and void. He further prayed that he may not be transferred during the tenure of his posting and the appointment notification of Ziaur Rehman may be suspended while adjudication of this matter.