ISLAMABAD   -  The Islamabad High Court (IHC) Thursday issued notices to Secretary Interior in a petition challenging the appointment of Syed Munawar Shah as Member (Engineering) of Capital Development Authority (CDA). 

A single bench of IHC comprising Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb issued the notices in a petition filed by a lawyer Shahzad Siddiqui Alvi who cited Secretary Interior, Chairman CDA and others as respondents. 

The petitioner stated that according to available information, Syed Munawar is an officer of the Pakistan Railways and he was originally inducted in BS-11 as Sub-Engineer in Pakistan Railways while he purportedly holds a degree of BSc Engineering from a university in the Philippines.  He added that furthermore, the status of the respondent’s registration with the Pakistan Engineering Council is unclear and there is a real possibility that the same has lapsed and he is not currently licensed to perform professional role of an engineer or to hold a position which primarily requires performance of duties as engineer or the supervision of such activities. 

The petitioner adopted that the CDA is responsible for making all arrangements for the planning and development of Islamabad and the direction and administration of the Respondent No.2 (Chairman CDA) vests in its Board which is made up of the members of the Authority and is constituted under section 6 of the Ordinance, 1960. However, he maintained that Shah, by virtue of holding a post in the Pakistan Railways, is first and foremost an officer of the executive.

He continued that the post of Member Engineering is a technical post, and any person holding the post must not only have the necessary qualifications to perform the role adequately, the person must have remained actively involved in such activities and have reached the zenith (surely not as a mere administrator). 

“The curriculum vitae of the Respondent No. 4 shows that he does not have the necessary experience or qualifications nor has he remained in an active role with regard to performance of engineering activities,” said the petitioner. 

He argued that the appointment of the Respondent No. 4 (Munawar Shah) as Member (Engineering) CDA Board is manifestly unlawful, illegal, without lawful authority, unreasonable and arbitrary. 

Therefore, he prayed to the court to direct the respondents to show under what authority of law Shah has been appointed as Member (Engineering) CDA Board and direct Respondent No. 3 (Pakistan Engineering Council) to verify the degree and credentials of Munawar Shah.