Karachi: A Grade 19 Junior Officer has been appointed as the Deputy Managing Director of Finance of Grade 20 in the Karachi Water and Sewerage Board.
In the Water Board, the MQM’s labor union approached the Sindh High Court through Yasir Ahmad Shah Advocate. Later, the court stayed the appointment of the said officer. The court has also summoned the concerned officers of the Sindh government after 3 weeks.
According to Office Order SO1 (SGA & CD) -3/14/2016 signed by Chief Secretary Sindh Dr. Muhammad Sohail Rajput, Grade 19 Officer Muhammad Rafiq Qureshi (Ex-PCS) has been promoted to Grade 20 of Karachi Water and Sewerage Board and appointed Deputy Managing Director Finance. Earlier, Muhammad Rafiq Qureshi was posted as Director Inspection and Evolution in Sindh Board of Revenue.
OPS officer Muhammad Rafiq Qureshi has given his joining to managing director to the secretary local bodies instead of handing it over to the KWSB. Immediately after the appointment, without any consultation with the competent officer MD and other concerned officers, it also banned the release of other funds including leave allowances.
It is to be noted that the said officer has been posted on OPS in violation of the clear orders of the Supreme Court, while there are Grade 20 officers in the Water Board.
It is clear from this letter of Muhammad Rafiq Qureshi that misleading information has been given to the Chief Secretary’s Office by the officer including the Local Government Department because the said post of Grade 20 has been written as vacant in the letter. Mohammad Saqib Khan, a Grade 20 officer, has been posted. Earlier, Makhdoom Shakeel-uz-Zaman, a Grade 20 officer, was appointed to the same post by the Sindh government.
Yasir Ahmad Shah Advocate has approached the court after the illegal appointment in the Water Board. The appointment of a Grade 19 officer has been made on pay scale, contrary to the order of the Supreme Court under Constitutional Petition 1189/201.
In this constitutional petition, the court has been informed that on March 20, 2021, an order was passed to remove a junior officer from the post in KWSB due to the presence of a senior woman officer.
It is to be noted that appointment process is underway for the posts of Water Board Managing Director / Chief Executive Officer, Chief Operations Officer, Chief Finance Officer, Chief Internal Audit, Chief Inter Information Officer and Board Secretary, for which applications have been submitted. Where aspiring officers and employees of public and private institutions have submitted applications to Consultant Saadat & Haider Company, which are being examined.
It is to be noted that the court has stopped the appointment of Muhammad Rafiq Qureshi on the emergency request and has sought a reply from Sindh government within 3 weeks.
Muhammad Rafiq Qureshi was appointed as Mukhtiarkar in 1996. Prior to that, he was also posted as DS Staff Officer of former Chief Secretaries. He is known as a highly corrupt officer. He has accumulated assets beyond his known sources of income and has also built an expensive bungalow in Defense Phase 8.
Muhammad Rafiq Qureshi is on bail in a NAB case, from whose house NAB recovered more than 200 tolas of gold. In 2013, there was a fake recruitment in the Board of Revenue, which was posted in the office of Deputy Commissioner Malir, after which it was transferred to the Board of Revenue due to forgery, which was sent back. He is illegally posted in the microfilming skiing department and where he is taking charge of 8 towns and earning millions of rupees monthly.
Rafiq Qureshi was contacted for comment but did not receive a call.
