ISLAMABAD: Government Holding Private Limited (GHPL) has allowed its managing director, whose tenure expired on June 18, to continue in his position without approval of the Cabinet.
In an unexpected development, the GHPL board, during its 178th meeting on June 15, 2023, appointed Nadeem Javed Bajwa as the acting MD/CEO of GHPL on an additional charge basis. The board asked him to continue in this role until the regular MD/CEO is appointed. This information was conveyed in a letter, numbered CS/04/2023, issued by the company on June 21, 2023. These documents are exclusively available with ‘The News’. Currently, Mr. Bajwa serves as the MD/CEO of state-owned Inter-State Gas Systems (Pvt) Limited (ISGSL).
However, the following day, June 22, the notification appointing Bajwa was quietly discarded. Nabi was asked to continue “till further communication in this regard,” despite having left the office on June 18, 2023.
According to Establishment Division rules, once an official is relieved, he/she cannot be allowed to continue indefinitely, but a new appointment is required with the approval from the Cabinet Division.
The new notification sates, “In pursuance of GHPL’s letter No. CS/04/2023 dated 21 June 2023, this is to inform that pursuant to the decision dated 22 June 2023 of GHPL Board of Directors, Mr. Masood Nabi shall continue to act as the MD/CEO of GHPL till further communication in this regard.” Remarkably, the company has not yet informed the Establishment Division about this eleventh-hour extension, The News confirmed from the ministry.
Given the instance of the Supreme Court’s ‘The Mustafa Impex’ judgment of 2016, a well-placed official of the Establishment Division said, “Without approval from the Cabinet, no one can continue in the MD position.” It is a direct violation of the Government’s ‘Management Position (MP) Scales Policy 2022’, he added.
The Policy available with this correspondent states, “All Ministries/Divisions shall invariably initiate cases for extension of the contract not less than three months before the expiry of contract. The cases for extension with less than three months to the expiry of contract may not be entertained and the Ministries should initiate the process of recruitment afresh. In such cases, the Ministries/Divisions shall ensure the completion of the process before the expiry of the contract of the incumbent.”
The official further said, “No documents or summary have been submitted to the Prime Minister or the Establishment Division.”
Shahbaz Tahir Nadeem, the spokesperson of the Petroleum Division and a joint secretary, stated, “Yes, his tenure has been extended, but we have not received any notification regarding this matter in the division,” he said this after confirming from his subordinate by phone. He tried to downplay it by saying, “It was not a major issue to extend his tenure.”
Nadeem mentioned that Masood Nabi holds two other positions: acting as the Managing Director of Pakistan Minerals Private Limited (PMPL), involved in the Reko Diq Project, and Pakistan LNG Limited (PLL), which imports liquefied natural gas.
Efforts to contact Masood Nabi for comments on these matters failed, despite multiple attempts by ‘The News’ on June 22 and then on July 4, through text messages, phone calls, and in-person visits to his office. Nabi declined to respond to questions regarding his extension, the appointment process for a new MD and outsourcing candidate short listing.
When this correspondent visited the GHPL office after receiving no answers, the MD’s admin officer Khurram Khan refused to speak on the issue. He claimed that GHPL is a private company. His claim is contrary to the fact that GHPL is a state-owned company.
