ISLAMABAD        -          The prevailing ad-hocism in the National Highway Authority (NHA) seems to be continued as the Federal Secretary Communications and Postal Services Capt (Retd) Khurram Agha has once again been given additional charge of the post of Chairman instead of appointing a regular incumbent. Khurram Agha was appointed Chairman NHA on 29th March 2021 by the previous PTI government and later he was made the Federal Secretary Communications in May 2022 but he successfully managed to retain the additional charge of the road authority as well. However, an additional charge of the post of Chairman NHA given to him was ended on 29th October 2022 but the Establishment Division has issued a fresh notification on Friday and gave him extension for another term of three months. “The additional charge of the post of Chairman NHA, granted to Capt (Retd) Muhammad Khurram Agha, a BS-22 officer of Pakistan Administrative Service, presently posted as Secretary Communications Division, is extended for another period of three months wef 29-10-2022 or till the posting of a regular incumbent; whichever is earlier,” the notification reads. It is worth to mention here that in recent past during the last government of PML-N, former Chairman NHA Shahid Ashraf Tarar was also holding the dual charge of the Secretary Communications and the Chairman. Though elevating an officer from the post of Chairman NHA to the Secretary Communications is a good practice as he/she knows the affairs of the road authority very well which is the most important and major subordinate department of the ministry. However, placing a single officer on both positions at the same time not only raises ‘eyebrows’ but also creates hurdles in the smooth functioning of such multi-billion organisations. Secretary Communication is also the principal accounting officer of all its subordinate departments and he is supposed to oversee and make a check and balance on the attached departments but in case of the dual charge, the accountability is compromised. Meanwhile, according to reliable sources for the last few months, the Chairman NHA is avoiding to take responsibility in any matter and several important functions are devolved to the regional offices, which resulted a new era of malpractices as decision making went out of the purview of the head office. As far instance, sources said, the KP region has initiated work on quotation basis without going into the proper tendering process just because the NHA Chairman has devolved relevant powers in the regions. On the other side, the shoulder of the NHA executive board and the National Highway Council is also being misused for involving in tiny issues just to avoid responsibility, which will set wrong precedent in future.