Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi has reportedly issued orders for appointment of Rao Tehseen as director general of radio, a private TV channel reported on Tuesday.

Tehseen is a grade-21 officer of the Information Group and was removed from his post as principal information officer (PIO) last year in the wake of an inquiry into the publication of a controversial news report in a local newspaper about a meeting between civilian and military leaders. He was removed in line with the recommendations of a committee set up to probe the story.

Tehseen’s restoration orders were reportedly issued by Principal Secretary to Prime Minister Fawad Hasan Fawad. The Establishment Division, however, refused to comply with the orders, maintaining that the federal cabinet’s permission was necessary for Tehseen’s appointment. The Prime Minister’s Office held that the orders were issued for posting and not an appointment of the officer. It maintained that the bureaucracy was incorrectly linking cabinet’s permission with the implementation of the orders. It further said that the prime minister had the authority to decide on posting of any federal government officer, with Establishment Division liable to execute the written orders.

Acting Information Secretary Shafqat Jaleel said that he had no knowledge of any development in this regard.

Published in Daily Times, May 16^th 2018.