Probe into illegal appointments in LWMC starts

LAHORE: Punjab Local Government and Community Development (LG&CD) Department has initiated an inquiry against illegal appointments made in Lahore Waste Management Company (LWMC) during the previous regime.

The inquiry committee was given 10 days to submit a detailed report to the department, sources said, adding that Deputy Commissioner Lahore was notified as Convener of the inquiry committee while Deputy Secretary (LGF), Director (Legal) and Director (Admin) of LG&CD department were the members of the inquiry committee.

Provincial Secretary LG&CD constituted this inquiry committee following media reports highlighting the appointment of Company Secretary LWMC Moinul Arfeen against rules and regulations. It was learnt that former Managing Director of LWMC Bilal Mustafa Syed had appointed Moinul Arfeen as Company Secretary ignoring the fact that he had not applied for this post.

As per the Terms of Reference of the inquiry committee, the committee will probe whether all relevant laws, rules, policy and procedure were strictly followed during entire process of appointment of Company Secretary, LWMC. The committee will examine whether remuneration and perks/privileges offered to Moinul Arfeen were compatible to his qualification and experience and to further see that approval of appointment was accorded by the competent forum. And lastly the committee will examine and probe any other such appointment(s) made by LWMC in violation of law/rules/policy/procedure.

It is pertinent to mention that as Company Secretary, Moinul Arfeen is the custodian of sensitive and personal data about all officers equal to or above the rank of General Manager, including his own data and personal file. Many senior officers in the company feared that he may tamper the evidence or replace any documents during the course of inquiry so he should immediately be placed under suspension.

Acting Managing Director LWMC Farrukh Butt while talking to The News said that the position of company secretary is of a statutory nature and only Board of Directors or Chairman can stop him from working. He admitted that Company Secretary had access to sensitive and personal data, including his own personal file.

When asked, Secretary LG&CD, Punjab said that the department had already gathered his personal data from the company so there is no fear of tampering of evidence. He, however, said that he had also asked his department’s Additional Secretary (Development) to look for a way to dysfunctional him during the inquiry.

On the other hand, Inquiry committee has started analysing the evidence collected against Moinul Arfeen, which included the list of shortlisted candidates for the post of company secretary. It was revealed that 20 candidates were short listed for the said job and the list didn’t contain the name of Moinul Arfeen.

Sources in LG&CD department revealed that Moinul Arfeen had applied for the post of Chief Financial Officer (CFO) along with 12 other candidates. As per Company’s internal evaluation sheet of the shortlisted candidates who applied for the position of Chief Financial Officers (CFO) Abdul Majid Alvi and Muhammad Khalid Butt secured 26 marks each, Moinul Arfeen secured 23 marks, Muhammad Zahid secured 21 marks, Awais Farooq got 17 marks, Syed Kashif Ali and Shakeel Ahmed secured 15 marks each and Ahmed Ali secured 13 marks.

Secretary Local Government, Punjab while talking to The News said that the present government has zero-tolerance policy vis-à-vis illegal appointments and he has called a meeting on Monday (today) to discuss the issue as well as to review the progress of the inquiry committee. He said the inquiry committee was also empowered to dig out any other illegal appointment made in LWMC during the previous regime.