ISLAMABAD   -   The National Highway Authority (NHA) while ignoring the principle of seniority has removed a grade-21 officer Asim Amin as member planning and appointed a junior grade-20 officer Sami-ur-Rehman.

Furthermore, the decision is legally questionable as at present the status of incumbent chairman NHA itself is not clear as after amendments in NHA Act, the road authority has to be headed by Chief Executive Officer duly ratified by the National Highway Council.

However, the formation of NHC by the federal government and ratification of incumbent chairman as CEO NHA has yet to be made while in the present scenario aforementioned major appointments also need a legal cover, which at least not available at the moment.

In two separate notifications issued on Tuesday, Asim Amin is removed from his position as member planning and placed on the admin pool while Sami ur Rehman is posted as new member.

It is pertinent to mention here that the notification mentioned that the orders are made with the approval of competent authority instead of clearly mentioning the designation of approving authority to avoid any legal controversy.

Asim Ameen is a senior officer of the road authority with three decades long experience in highway planning and he has the privilege to lead joint technical working group over China Pakistan Economic Corridor.

He also plays an important role in the upcoming CPEC project of Thakot to Raikot on KKH in which he successfully managed to save over a billion dollars by refining the feasibility study for this project.

Senior officers of NHA believed that removal of Amin at the peak of his career without a valid reason is unjustified when his retirement is also due in December 2025.

They argued that appointing a junior officer in lieu of a highly experienced officer is also questionable as it is against the principles of merit and seniority.

The new member Sami-ur-Rehamn is a grade-20 officer who came under spotlight last year when his wife killed a boy in a road accident while driving an official vehicle of NHA. Sami remained posted as General Manager at P&CA—a subordinate department of the planning wing.  

Meanwhile, in background discussions, the reliable sources claimed that Amin is removed as he was reluctant to annul a procurement process of a multi billion project in KP.

This scribe extended written questions to the Director Public Relations NHA Dr Sohail Aftab, who said he will respond after getting input from high ups but he remained unavailable for his comments till filing of this story.