Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: All the claims made by AJK Prime Minister (PM) Raja Farooq Haider on good governance and adherence to norms of merit have proved merely an eyewash.

Sources told Daily Times that the AJK PM has appointed his close relative Tariq Shula as the secretary works in violation of merit. This has concerned the senior bureaucracy which has dubbed the move as “massacre of merit”.

According to sources, Shula is not only junior to other bureaucrats but he has not completed his senior management course. He was serving in BPS-19 last year and completion of senior management course is a must for a bureaucrat for promotion to grade-20. Chief Engineer Sharif Dar and Chief Engineer Sardar Ishaq, hailing from Poonch, are senior to Shula and the ACRs of both are outstanding as well.

Sources said the two bureaucrats are honest and they do not comply with any order against the merit. Therefore, the PM has refused to promote them.

When contacted, the press secretary to PM said, “It is the government’s mandate to appoint any Grade-20 officer as a secretary. The government assigns the job whomsoever it wills. Shula’s service record is better therefore powers have been delegated to him. If we talk of merit then we will come to know that as many as 13 bureaucrats who were appointed secretaries earlier are junior to Shula. Junior secretaries have performed their duties for 3 to 8 years. Abid Gilani who has been retired as secretary works has remained OSD for 8 years because his juniors were made secretaries.”

Shula said appointing a secretary is the government’s domain and it can appoint any Grade-20 officer as a secretary. It is not compulsory for any doctor or engineer to undergo the management course, he concluded.