Corruption has once again been revealed in the Capital Development Authority (CDA) during a recent internal audit of the civic agency. CDA has been found guilty of wasting expenditures of about Rs 16.8 million on illegally appointing employees despite a ban on recruitment from the government. According to the audit report, the government’s Finance Wing order number F.7 Exp IV/2011 Para-1, there will be full ban on new recruitment and as Para-2 all Ministries/Division are requested to circulate the above instructions to all concerned for strict compliance. Interestingly, the audit observed that the Human Resource Department (HRD) in their notifications clearly mentioned that there is a full ban on total recruitment but the civic agency violated both orders of HRD and the Finance wing and recruited 75 employees irregularly. The document further spotlighted that the federal body appointed 11 staff nurses on Grade-16 on regular basis while 64 other employees of Grade-1 to 14 on contract basis during 2011-2012. Details of 11 staff nurses show that six were from Punjab, two from the Federally Administered Tribal Areas, two from Sindh rural and one from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP). Details mentioned in documents regarding the appointment of 64 other employees show that 37 were from Punjab, seven from KP, four from Azad Jammu & Kashmir, 15 from Islamabad and one from Sindh, in violation of the government policy of ban on new recruitment/appointment. It is pertinent to mention that the audit report revealed the civic agency’s activities regarding violating the appointment and selection rules in illegal recruitments while nepotism and bribe taking are also there. The audit further observed that appointments are irregular and unjustified and in violation of the government policy. “CDA on one side has no material/equipments to maintain the inquiries, while on the other side, appointments have been made on regular as well on contract basis without any justification, requirements and cogent reasons. Regional and provincial quotas were not observed surfacing the illegalities,” the audit noted. Further mentioning the expenditure figures, the audit noted that expenditures incurred on these appointees tentatively at Rs 16,800,000 may be got regularised from the finance division or recovered from the concerned along with fixing the responsibility for irregular appointments. The audit stresses for regularisation of the expenditures by the finance division as well as removal of irregular appointees. A source in the civic agency informed that observations of the audit department regarding the illegalities and financial loss in appointments of the employees shows corruption, bribe taking and nepotism inside the civic agency as its clearly revealed that the official at that time turned every stone to pursue his/her illegal agenda. He further added that if recruitments were banned at that time but still they were done means that the top brass got huge bribes while appointing people, violating the rules of the government. Commenting on violation of quota, the source added that some CDA officials appointed their close relatives on seats. “In my view, CDA will not take action against the accused as still there’s no inquiry committee formed to investigate the matter. The corruption watch dog National Accountability Bureau should handle the case to identify all actors of the irregular appointments,” he said. CDA officials commented that the audit report isn’t enough to be accepted as after the audit recommendations, different wings as well as experts study these recommendations and later exclude many of the reservations under the laws and regulations of the civic agency. Published in Daily Times, January 21st 2019.