ISLAMABAD - The federal government ignoring the request of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government has appointed Abid Saeed as chief secretary of the province.
Sources told The Nation that federal government had sent a three-member panel of grade-22 bureaucrats, including Additional Secretary Establishment Maroof Afzal, Secretary Civil Aviation Irfan Elahi and Secretary Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan Affairs Abid Saeed to the provincial government with a piece of advice to pick one of these officers for the slot of chief secretary and intimate it back.
Earlier, the provincial government took action against the last Chief Secretary Amjad Khan on complaints of provincial cabinet members and removed him from the post almost two weeks ago and informed the federal government through a fax.
Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf provincial leadership has asked the party to remove Amjad Khan because he was not cooperating in timely completion of ongoing development projects in the province.
The KP government gave acting charge of the office of chief secretary to Additional Chief Secretary Azam Khan, a grade-21 officer.
Sources said that the provincial government later asked the federal government to appoint Azam Khan as permanent chief secretary of the KP. They said Azam Khan is a grade-21 officer while a chief secretary should be a grade-22 officer. Azam Khan was promoted to grade-21 last year. Some bureaucrats challenged the decision of the Central Selection Board in the high court and the case is still pending in the court.
Sources said if the court gives its judgment against the CSB’s decision then the seniority of Azam will also be reverted to his previous grade.
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had suspended Adid Saeed when he was serving as secretary petroleum due to the shortage of commodity in the country. Later, an inquiry committee gave him a clean chit and the federal government posted him as a secretary Kashmir Affairs and G-B Division.