Govt likely to appoint Zulfi Bukhari as PTDC BoD chairman

ISLAMABAD: The federal government is likely to appoint Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Overseas Pakistanis and Human Resource Development Zulfi Bukhari as the chairman of Pakistan Tourism Development Corporation (PTDC) Board of Directors (BoD).

According to sources Prime Minister Imran Khan being the minister incharge of the Cabinet Division has authorised the submission of the summary regarding nomination of directors and chairman of PTDC’s BoD before the federal cabinet.

Sources further said that the PTDC BoD, in its 89th meeting, held on July, 2, 2020 emphasised that the composition of the board should be completed on priority, as three private members, namely Javaid Jabber, Kamram Lashari and Selman Siddique, have ceased to hold office by remaining absent in four consecutive meetings of the board.

The PTDC board members have suggested the names of Qasim Jaffery, Ahmad Shafiq, Iqbal Walji, Salman Javed, Aziz Ahmad Jamali and Masood Ali Khan against the three vacant positions on the board.

Additionally the decision regarding the appointment of the PTDC BoD chairman also needs to be revisited. In the existing composition, the National Tourism Coordination Board (NTCB) chairman has been appointed as the chairman of PTDC’s BoD.

Currently Zulfiqar Abbas Bukhari who has been appointed as NTCB’s acting chairman also holds the position of the PTDC BoD chairman by virtue of his office.

The position of NTCB and the appointment of Zulfi Bukhari as its chairman has already been challenged in the Islamabad High Court (IHC).

According to sources the Cabinet Division has requested the Federal Cabinet to make amendments in public sector companies rules to appoint Zulfi Bukhari as director/chairman of PTDC.

PTDC is a public sector enterprise, functioning as a corporation under the administrative control of the Cabinet Division. The company is unlisted with 99.3 per cent shares owned by the federal government.

The federal government, being the single major stakeholder has reconstituted the PTDC BOD, consisting of 17 members including the chairman and seven private members. The affairs of PTDC are being managed by the BoD in accordance with its memorandum/articles of association and the Public Sector Companies (Corporate Governance) Rules, 2013 as amended upto April 21, 2017.

It is pertinent to mention here that the government had fired more than 400 employees of PTDC last month during a major restructuring of the company.

Zulfi Bukhari tweeted at the time that changes were being made as a step towards restructuring PTDC in accordance with global best practices since overtime due to mismanagement and political appointments the company had become stagnant and was running in loss.

He said that PTDC will continue to work as a federal implementation body under NTCB and a new structure will be proposed in consultation with field experts.