ISLAMABAD: Two senior bureaucrats are in hot water and four key officials of the National Endowment Scholarships for Talent (NEST) have been dismissed from service for splurging at least Rs25 million to acquire membership in the elite Islamabad Club.

NEST is a programme for eligible and deserving students. It is an autonomous body and an additional secretary of the Ministry of Education and Professional Training heads this entity by virtue of designation.

As per documents available with Dawn, the board of directors (BOD) of NEST in its meeting held on Nov 3, 2021 approved corporate membership for NEST and initially nominated four executive officers, namely Athar Hussain Zaidi, Faysal Qasim, Qamar Safdar and Quratulain Talha for issuance of complimentary cards for the club membership. The BOD had also approved that the “monthly subscription charges [of the executives] shall be paid by the company [NEST]”.

On March 8, 2022, the Administration and Human Resources manager wrote a letter to the chief financial officer (CFO) to implement the BOD’s direction.

Two senior bureaucrats in hot water, four officials sacked after Rs25m spent on Islamabad Club membership

The CFO forwarded this request to then-CEO Mohiyuddin Wani and the approval was granted accordingly. Mr Wani was later posted out to Gilgit-Baltistan as the chief secretary.

His successor, Asim Iqbal, sanctioned the release of Rs25 million to the management of Islamabad Club for membership. Shortly after, he was transferred to the Cabinet Division as its additional secretary.

Since Mr Iqbal released the amount to the Islamabad Club, the Ministry of Education wrote to the Establishment Division for Mr Iqbal’s suspension.

A senior official of the Establishment Division also confirmed that the letter had been received. When approached for comments, Mr Iqbal’s assistant said that he was in a meeting.

The Ministry of Education and Professional Training shared the documents with the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) for forensic analysis to ascertain whether the signatures of Mr Wani were genuine or not, the sources in the Establishment Division said.

Talking to Dawn, Mr Wani said that he was not the board chairman that allegedly approved the memberships. “I did not release even a single penny for the corporate membership of the Islamabad Club,” he said, adding that the NEST officials sought complimentary cards in a request that he approved.

It may be mentioned that the BOD on Nov 3, 2021, approved the corporate membership for NEST officials; in March 2022, they had sought complimentary cards for four senior officials initially; in June, funds were allocated; and in September, NEST transferred Rs25m to the management of the Islamabad Club.

Case in IHC

As far as the issue of four ex-employees of NEST is concerned, they challenged their termination from service before the Islamabad High Court (IHC). Their counsel, Shuaib Shaheen, told Dawn that these four officials had no role in acquiring the club membership.

IHC Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb sought a reply from the Ministry of Education and Establishment Division and adjourned the hearing of this matter till Jan 25.

The court also stopped the ministry from making new appointments to the posts vacated by the above-mentioned employees.

When contacted, the incumbent CEO of NEST and Additional Secretary, education ministry, Waseem Ajmal Chaudhry confirmed these developments.

He said the ministry had taken action against four employees and imposed major penalties on them. He further said the competent authority also ordered an inquiry against senior bureaucrats which would be concluded soon.

According to him, the ministry has also asked the management of Islamabad Club to refund Rs25 million, as this amount was not issued in a transparent manner.

Published in Dawn, January 11th, 2023