ISLAMABAD, May 3: Caretaker federal minister for national regulations and services Shahzada Jamal Nazar on Friday expressed concerns over the transfer of his ministry’s secretary without his ‘knowledge and consent’.

The establishment division transferred Imtiaz Inayat Elahi and posted Farooq Awn, a grad-21 official, as the new secretary of the ministry of regulations and services.

“I have serious reservations over the transfer of Mr Elahi without my knowledge and will raise the matter at the Saturday cabinet committee meeting,” the caretaker minister told Dawn.

“I will also raise the matter with the office of the prime minister,” he added.

“How could the establishment division transfer my secretary without even letting me know,” he asserted, adding the decision should be reviewed by the government.

A source in the establishment division said Mr Elahi was informed about his transfer on Thursday night.

“He has been posted as secretary National Commission for Government Reforms (NCGR), almost a non-functional entity based at the prime minister secretariat,” said the official.

The NCGR was established during the tenure of former President Pervez Musharraf to streamline the government working and reform the civil services.

The commission was previously headed by former governor State Bank of Pakistan Ishrat Hussain.

A source said Mr Elahi was given the redundant post mainly because of his differences with the previous PPP government and the presidency.

“Mr Elahi refused to come under the pressure of pharmaceutical industries and also did not entertain a few requests from key PPP politicians related to the allocation and issuances of drug licenses to pharmaceutical companies,” asserted the official.

Another official said recently Mr Elahi had also recorded his statement with the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on the registration, pricing and licensing process of drugs during the tenure of the PPP government.

It may be mentioned that the ministry also has an attached department - Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan - which regulates around 700 drug companies, including over 11 multinationals.

Vaccine procurement

An official in the prime minister secretariat said all the vaccination programmes under the Expanded Programme on Immunisation (EPI) were likely to be shifted from the Ministry of Inter-Provincial Coordination to the Ministry of Services and Regulations.

The shifting of the vaccination programme to the regulations division and transfer of the secretary seemed quite shady.

Meanwhile, when the minister was asked to comment on the mechanism to formulate a policy related to the drug industry, he said: “We were in the middle of formulating a drug policy and disturbing my team is not a good sign.”