14 ALB officials suspended

KARACHI - Administrator City District Government Karachi (CDGK) Fazlur Rehman Wednesday suspended 14 officials of Arms Licence Branch due to their alleged malpractices and directed an inquiry into the issuance of arms licences by the branch during the last one year. The CDGK administrator took this action after he had received numerous complaints about the corruption and negligence of officials working in Arms Licence Branch. The district officer Arms Licence Nuzhat Fatima has been directed to report at Administrator Secretariat, while the District Officer Law Secretariat Agha Zaheeruddin was given an additional charge of DO Arms Licence Branch. Senior District Officer General Administration Abid Zawabi has been appointed as inquiry officer, who will submit report to the administrator within 15 days. The District Officer Law Secretariat has been instructed to seal all the record of Arms Licence Branch and provide all required details to the inquiry officer. The officials who have been suspended include superintendent Nasir Abbas, Clerk Muhammad Yousuf, Ansar Ahmed, Azeem Baig, clerk Saeed Ahmed, Saleem, Muhammad Shah, Faiz Muhammad, Maroof, Asif, M Iqbal Khan, Kamran and Naib Qasid Subhan. It is pertinent to mention that serious irregularities were reported in the branch during the past few months and some officials had tried to shift the branch again to its old location for their personal interests. The Arms Licence Branch was established in the CDGK head office last year from its old location at Old Commissioner Office for security reasons, but some officials of the Branch wanted to shift it back to its old location without the orders of high up of the CDGK. The courageous officials had moved a summary regarding shifting the branch again at Old Commissioner Office and sent it to the administrator Fazal-ur-Rehman for approval but the move was rejected.