Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: The Capital Development Authority (CDA) has failed to finalise the seniority list of its Grade 18 officers working in the executive cadre and this is causing disputes and creating hurdles in promotions as well. The officers are being deprived of participation in the Mid Carrier Management Courses (MCMCs) due to the unavailability of the said list.

According to details, around 20 officers are working in Grade 18 of the executive cadre in the civic body. They are deprived of participating in the last three MCMCs due to the negligence of the Human Resource Directorate (HRD) of the Authority as it is responsible to prepare the seniority list of employees. The MCMC is designed for Grade 18 government officers to boost knowledge, skills and the leadership potential so as to optimise efficiency, effectiveness and economy in public service processes. The Establishment Division seeks nominations for the said course twice a year from the Ministries, the Divisions, the Departments, the subordinate offices, the autonomous and the semi autonomous bodies controlled by the federal ministries, the divisions and the provincial governments.

The officers belonging to the civic agency were last time nominated by the Authority for the 19th MCMC held from January 5, 2015, to April 10, 2015. The nominees included Hassan Rizvi, Hakeem Bararo, Fiaz Ahmed Watto and Maskeen Shah, but Fiaz Ahmed Watto did not attend that course due to unknown reasons.

After the 19th MCMC, the civic body failed to nominate even a single officer for the last three MCMCs due to the aforementioned prevailing uncertainty regarding seniority of its officers, which has caused a great loss to the Authority as this course is mandatory for the promotion of every officer to the next grade.

Meanwhile, Deputy Director Fiaz Ahmed Watto, had moved sharply and managed his nomination a second time for the 22nd MCMC, but his name was rejected by the Establishment Division, when some other officers of the same grade challenged his nomination. An officer, who was previously working in the HRD briefed on the condition of anonymity: “The terms and conditions of the Establishment Division are contradictory as an officer, who is facing disciplinary proceedings may not be nominated; whereas seniority can also not be ignored.”

He added: “If we leave those, who have pending inquiries then the seniority list gets disturbed or if we send their nomination then they become ineligible because of the cases pending against them.”

While talking to Daily Times, another Deputy Director of CDA said: “The main issue is the absence of the seniority list as without finalising it nobody can participate in this course”.

He added: “The last nomination of Faiz Ahmed Watto was totally illegal as when his case proceeded, the case of another officer was rejected by observing that the seniority list was not finalised.” Deputy Director Public Relations, Malik Saleem Akhtar, responding on the issue said; “The HRD is finalising the seniority list and soon it will be finalised by the Authority.” He said further, merit would be ensured while preparing the seniority list.

On the other side, sources inside the CDA consider the whole case as a dispute created by the higher ups of the Authority to avoid the promotion of these officers as currently several posts of directors originally requiring a Grade 19 officer are being managed through Grade 18 officer on an ad-hoc basis. Whatsoever the reasons behind the said negligence, it is however quite clear that the Human Resource Directorate has failed to perform its duties as the finalisation of seniority is one of its core functions.