Story of a meteoric rise to BS-20

KARACHI: A Sindh Local Government Department (SLGD) official has allegedly attained BS 20 despite questionable academic credentials, reveal documents available with The News.

Initially appointed as sub-engineer in 1992 with a diploma, Karachi Municipal Corporation chief engineer claims to have obtained a Bachelor of Engineering (BE) in Agriculture from the Sindh Agriculture University, Tandojam, during his regular government service in Khairpur.

Despite his claim of attending classes from 1992 to 1996 as a regular student, academic experts, including Professor Yaqoob Chandio, have stated that government employees are prohibited from enrolling as regular students during their service. Any degrees obtained in violation of this policy are considered illegal.

The chief engineer’s career trajectory raises several red flags. After presenting his BE degree, he was promoted from grade 11 to 17 as an assistant engineer in 1996.

Further promotions led him to grades 18, 19, and eventually to grade 20, and he is currently serving as chief engineer KMC, along with additional responsibilities as project director in Karachi.

Notably, his degree has been referred to inconsistently as “BE Agriculture” and “BE Civil” in some official documents. In 2006, the Sindh Local Government Department sought a clarification from the Pakistan Engineering Council (PEC) regarding the equivalence of these degrees.

The PEC did not explicitly confirm that a BE Agriculture degree could be used for promotions to positions requiring a BE Civil degree.

In addition to his engineering degree, the official has also claimed increments based on a master’s degree which he asserts was completed in 2000.

Despite discrepancies surrounding his educational credentials, neither the Sindh Local Government Department nor the Sindh Services and General Administration Department raised any objection to his promotions.

There is no record of the chief engineer seeking permission from his department for his studies, which further complicates the legitimacy of his claims.

This reporter tried to approach the chief engineer, Secretary Sindh Local Government Khalid Hyder Shah, Chief Secretary Sindh Asif Haider Shah, and Local Government Minister Saeed Ghani for their version on the issue. Calls were made to their official phone numbers and WhatsApp messages were also sent, but no one responded.

Sources close to him, however, claim that there is nothing wrong in chief engineer’s credentials and he was promoted through ranks fulfilling all requirements.