Two former members of the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (OGRA) have sought information under the Freedom of Information Act 2010 over the direct appointment of Senior Executive Director (Corporate Affairs and Media) at OGRA.
In an application to the regulatory authority, ex-Member Finance Mir Kamal Marri and ex-Member Gas Mansoor Muzaffar Ali have asked OGRA to provide with the verified copies of documents related to the entire process of direct appointment of Imran Ghazanavi as SED.
“We are requesting this information under the Freedom of Information Act 2010 and all other enabling laws,” said ex-members.
Seeking minutes of the meeting of the authority where the new position of SED was created by the OGRA, the ex-members have also sought minutes of that meeting of the authority where approval was given for the appointment of SED.
Similarly, they asked to provide ascertainment of ways and means position/budgetary provision prior to the creation of the position of the SED approved by the budget committee of OGRA, and, the prescribed eligibility and the reason d’être for the post/appointment of SED. “Was the OGRA Service Regulations 2005 amended to incorporate the new position of SED and its gazette notification to give it a legal effect?” they asked OGRA to respond.
Official sources aware of the development, on condition of anonymity, informed Pakistan Today that the said vacancy (SED-M&CA) was neither available in the budget of the financial year 2016-17 nor any kind of fund was available for the said post. However, Chairperson Uzma Adil Khan has successfully managed induction of her ex-colleague Imran Ghaznavi as SED (CA&M).
The post (SED-CA &M) is of much significance after chairman and members of the Authority. Direct appointment for the lucrative slot of the senior executive director was also against the earlier decision of the authority that internal promotions will be made for senior slots, sources said.
The sources said according to the Regulation-15(5) of the OGRA Service Regulation 2005, “E-3 and above posts should be filled through internal promotion as mentioned in the Working Paper dated July 06, 2012 submitted by the then Executive Director (Admin)”.
It is worth mentioning here that although the post of a senior executive director media was advertised in the press, however, advertisement did not mention that this post was available at OGRA. The advertisement was in an opaque manner through which applications from the aspirants were sought for the post of senior executive director at OGRA. And, Imran Ghazanavi was directly appointed as SED (Corporate Affairs & Media), OGRA. Besides, he is getting a professional allowance which is 40 per cent of the basic salary even though he belongs to a general cadre, said sources.
