–AGP says Akhtar will be restored to his position, new probe will be launched
ISLAMABAD: The federal government is willing to withdraw the notification of Karachi Port Trust (KPT) Chairperson Jamil Akhtar, the attorney general told the Islamabad High Court on Thursday.
Attorney General Khalid Javed Khan appeared in the case being heard by Chief Justice Athar Minallah. The petition filed by Akhtar challenged his removal from the post by the Maritime Affairs Minister Ali Zaidi.
The attorney general said that the notification would be taken back and a new investigation would be started into Akhtar’s conduct as the KPT chief. Over the course of the hearing, the bench also raised questions over Ali Zaidi’s interference in the case.
Akhtar, who was appointed on November 23, 2017 for three years, was removed from the post on March 25. He was accused of causing irregularities and hiring people illegally.
On March 28, the Islamabad High Court stayed his dismissal and asked the federal government to submit a reply in the case.
The federal government had removed Akhtar from the post of the chairman on March 25 with immediate effect. The notification had said: “The Federal Government is pleased to remove Rear Admiral Jamil Akhtar (retd) from the post of Chairman Karachi Port Trust (KPT) under Ministry of Maritime Affairs, forthwith by modifying/reducing his period of initial appointment in terms of Section 11 of KPT Act, 1886, with immediate effect”.
According to a journalist, Zaidi had pushed for the removal Akhtar after he refused to grant a contract for a mega project to the minister’s blue-eyed company.
Speaking on a Din TV show, journalist Mumtaz Bhatti had claimed that Zaidi wanted the former KPT chairman to award the contract to MIBT, a company owned by the friend of the shipping minister, for $70m. Akhtar refused and told the minister that the contract will only be awarded via standard bidding procedure.
However, in the bidding process, a company named RAMD made a bid of $13-15m for the same task which the MIBT had asked $70m for, he had claimed.
Subsequently, Zaidi had allegedly gotten the finance director removed, but that didn’t work out. Eventually, Zaidi in connivance with a secretary and his ‘friend’ in Islamabad sent the chairman of the KPT packing.
