ISLAMABAD: The Cabinet Division on Thursday issued a notification for the appointment of Zainulabideen Qureshi as Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (OGRA) Member-Oil for a period of three years.
“In terms of Section 3 (8) (b) of OGRA Ordinance, 2002, the federal government is pleased to appoint Zainulabideen Qureshi as Member (Oil) in the OGRA for a period of three years with immediate effect and until further orders,” said the notification issued on Thursday.
Qureshi first headed the oil department of OGRA in 2007, and for the last 13 years, has been working with OGRA in different capacities. He last served as the senior executive director at OGRA.
He holds Masters’ degrees in chemical engineering and business administration and enjoys 16 years of experience in managerial positions.
According to sources, the qualification required for the positions of OGRA member and chairman is the same; a person who is eligible for post of Member is also eligible for the post of chairman. However, the Cabinet Division had recently proposed massive difference in the salaries of OGRA members and chairman, which may affect the working of OGRA.
Sources said the Cabinet Division had requested the federal cabinet to fix the salary of OGRA chairman under a special pay scale instead of the salary of MP-I scale.
“Salary of an OGRA member was Rs600,000 while Cabinet Division has recommended the federal cabinet to raise the salary to Rs1.5 million per month,” a insider said.
It is pertinent to mention that the Cabinet Division had started the procedure for selection of the OGRA member oil in January 2020, as advertisement in this regard was published on 19th Jan 2020. As many as 18 applications were received by the Cabinet Division within the due date (3rd Feb 2020).
The PM had constituted a selection committee under Adviser to PM on Accountability and Interior Mirza Shahzad Akbar to recommend a panel for the post of OGRA member oil. After thorough examination of credentials and detailed interviews, the committee recommended three candidates in order of merit for appointment against the post for a period of three years.
The candidates included Zainulabideen Qureshi, Ziaul Haq Mirza and Asim Niazi.
The position of OGRA’s member oil was lying vacant since 16th May 2020, following to competition of previous member’s tenure.
