Saleem Bukhari
PESHAWAR : The revelation of irregularities in the appointments of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Revenue Authority, caused great frustration and anxiety among the officers. Amjad Miraj PMS officer of BPS-18 is posted as Director (BPS-19) in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Revenue Authority (KPRA) by Establishment Department of KPK via Notification dated 16.11.2022 and at that time no post of Director was vacant as all the posts were occupied in OPS by officers of PMS and CSS of BPS-18 on their scheduled posts.
In order to make adjustment in KPRA for the posting of Amjad Miraj son-in-law to Chief Secretary of KP, the most important post of Collector Sales Tax on Services of BPS-20 being vacant is redesignated as Director Revenue and degraded from BPS-20 to BPS-19 Alleged illegally via notification dated 05.01.2023 with the approval of Policy Board of the KPRA.
Previously, Additional Collectors of BPS-19 were reportable to Collector of BPS 20 and after the redesignation and degrading of Collector post all the Additional collector will be reportable to Director Revenue which is highly questionable as both posts are now of the BPS 19 which may for sure bring disturbance in reporting lines and on top of this PMS/CSS officer now reportable to Director Revenue are senior to him, this for sure will create unrest among officers and will badly impact the working environment of the KPRA.
Beside this, the most important point in this arrangement is its legality and validity in the eye of law as the Collector is statutory post created and empowered by the Act of legislature itself and any changes via executive orders in the post of Collector may put all actions of Director Revenue at risk of nullity which may possibly cause huge loss to the Government exchequer in terms of loss in Revenue-Receipts of sales tax on services.
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Revenue Authority (KPRA) is well known by achievement of its yearly targets and its contributions of over 60% in the provincial own receipts. Considering the role and importance of KPRA all the posting / transfers must be checked against fitness in terms of qualification and experience and should be made as per the required criteria of the post instead of fulfilling individual desire at the cost of merit and individual benefits at the cost of public money.
