close
Friday March 29, 2024

Top official made OSD in ‘violation of SC ruling’

Islamabad In an apparent violation of the Supreme Court judgment in Anita Turab case and specific orders of the Balochistan High Court (BHC), the provincial government has removed the Project Director of Awaran Rehabilitation Project, who had won praise from top officials including the Chief Minister of the province for

By Waseem Abbasi
August 06, 2015
Islamabad
In an apparent violation of the Supreme Court judgment in Anita Turab case and specific orders of the Balochistan High Court (BHC), the provincial government has removed the Project Director of Awaran Rehabilitation Project, who had won praise from top officials including the Chief Minister of the province for successful construction of 3000 houses in earthquake hit area.
According to documents available with The News, Aziz Jamali a DMG officer who was heading multi-billion Housing Reconstruction Awaran (HRA) Project in the insurgency hit area, was abruptly made an officer on special duty (OSD) without stating any reason the day the BHC issued orders not to transfer him from his post.
In the famous Anita Turab case, the Supreme Court had had held that civil servants should not be made OSD or transferred from one department to another for political reasons without completing their tenure.
Sources said Aziz Jamali was removed under political pressure as local political leadership was not happy with him for issuing tenders for the purchase of solar panels for the newly constructed houses.
However Deputy Speaker of the Balochistan Assembly Mir Abdul Quddus who is elected from Awaran area told The News that the officer was removed for not accommodating local residents in the project. He admitted that his younger brother had moved court against Aziz Jamali on the issue of tenders for solar panels but denied any link with his removal.
"I did not play any role in removal of Aziz Jamali who is an honest officer. However he was removed by the Chief Minister probably for failing to work with local residents of the area," he said.
He said he had good relations with the officer who is an educated and honest person. "The only difference I develop with him was on the issue of accommodating local people in the project instead of hiring staff from other areas of the province," he said.
"Had I been able to transfer him, I would have not moved court to stop the process of solar panel purchase" he argued.
When asked if it was not violation of Supreme Court orders to transfer an officer on political bases without completion of his tenure, the Deputy Speaker said there was no issue of tenure in the projects.
Around 16,000 houses were demolished in Awaran and Kech districts in the 2013 earthquake. Around 27,000 people became homeless in the Awaran earthquake. The reconstruction of these houses began 11 months ago under three-year HRA projection. Around 3,000 houses have been already completed while work on another 7,000 is underway.
Sources said Jamali volunteered to work on difficult project when no other officer was willing to work in a volatile area. He was selected for his five-year experience in earthquake reconstruction in Kashmir. His work in Awaran has been recognized internationally and Chief Minister Balochistan has publically appreciated his work at a recent event.
However the problem started when after the construction of 3000 house, the officer decided to issue tender for purchase of solar panels.
Local politician, Jameel Ahmed who is also the brother of provincial assembly's Deputy Speaker filed a petition against the tenders in the Baluchistan High Court. Appearing before the court the officer expressed fear that he would be transferred. On 14th July 2015, BHC granted a stay order against his transfer from the post but the same day he was made OSD though a notification No SVIII-2(1)Gen/2015-S&GAD issued by the Services and General Administration Department Balochistan.
The notification directed the Commissioner Kalat Dr Muhammad Akbar to assume additional charge as project director HRA. However Aziz Jamali refused to relinquish the post in the light of Court Orders.
On 29th July the Commissioner submitted the Charge Assumption Report in violation of the court orders, quoting the earlier notification of the government.
When contacted the spokesman of Balochistan government Jan Mohammad Buledi said Aziz Jamali was an honest officer but the government had to listen to the politicians of the area.
"Awaran is insurgency-hit complicated area and government institutions are non-functional there. We have to take special measures for this area so we can't keep one officer deputed there for three years," he said.
"The transfer of Aziz Jamali is in the greater interest of the people of Awaran. No doubt he has done a good job so far but the progress was still slow," he said adding that Jamali will be assigned another task soon.