LAHORE: The provincial government has transferred Punjab Safe City Authority (PSCA) Chief Operating Officer Akbar Nasir Khan in sheer violation of the Lahore High Court order.

The Services & General Administration Department issued a notification on Nov 26 regarding the transfer of Mr Khan whom it sent at the disposal of the Central Police Office (CPO) for further order.

Significantly, the S&GAD also issued a notification of termination of his contract as the COO on Nov 20. The termination order was mentioned on the notification issued on 26th, creating legal and administrative complications regarding the official assignments Mr Akbar discharged during the last one week.

Mr Khan was one of the founders of the PSCA and also helping other provinces to replicate the project. The other founding members are Managing Director Ali Aamir Malik and Chief Administration Officer Kamran Khan.

The LHC in its written order issued on Sept 13 last had restrained the Punjab government from transferring any of the three officers from their positions. The directions were issued by Justice Ali Akbar Qureshi while hearing the writ petition filed by The Mall Road Traders Association.

The Association had moved court against the frequent protests, demonstrations and sit-ins on The Mall and to seek directions for the Punjab authorities for implementation of the ban on agitations. After a couple of hearings, the LHC passed the order giving a prime role to the three officers of the Authority for effective traffic management on The Mall and the rest of the city.

“In my opinion without the help of the Punjab Safe City Authority, it is not possible to remove the hurdles being faced by the public at large and the traffic police in smooth flow of the traffic on the roads of Lahore, further e-ticketing system including the reforms relating to the issuance of licenses and its cancellation.

“This assignment is given to the founders of the Punjab Safe City Authority Ali Aamir Malik, Akbar Nasir Khan and Kamran Khan, therefore, they will not be transferred from their posts without permission of court,” reads the order of the LHC.

The notification of termination of contract of Mr Khan and his transfer order was issued by chief secretary Yousaf Naseem Khokhar a day before his transfer, creating doubts about the legality of the decision, an official told Dawn.

He said there were many other legal and administrative issues in the decision of transfer of the COO just ahead of the chief secretary’s replacement. According to the agreement, he said, the competent authority was supposed to issue one-month notice before termination of the contract job to the COO of the Authority. Secondly, the administrative department of the PSCA was the Punjab Police Department whereas the notification of his contract’s termination and transfer had been issued by the chief secretary.

Another aspect was that the Nov 26 notification was the second one issued by the CS regarding the job of Mr Khan. Earlier on June 21 last, the CS had extended his one-year contract job with effect from March 15, 2019 to March 14, 2020. The termination of his contract and transfer just four months before the expiry of his contract that the CS had mentioned in his June 21 official notification showed all was done in a haste in violation of policies and regulations.

Published in Dawn, November 29th, 2019