- MoC says appointment not made under MP-1 scale
ISLAMABAD: While approving the summary through circulation the federal cabinet has approved appointment of Chairman Intellectual Property Organization (IPO), an attached department of the Ministry of Commerce (MoC) in violation of set rules regarding age limit.
According to insiders, former ambassador Farukh Amil, who has been appointed as new chairman IPO Pakistan for three years, does not meet the age limit set for appointment against the post of MP-1 scale.
According to reliable sources, the MoC had forwarded a panel of three names including former ambassador Farukh Amil; former chairman Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) Muhammad Javed Ghani and former Member FBR Customs (Legal & Accounting) Dr Arslan Subuktageen to the cabinet for appointment as chairman IPO Pakistan, an attached department of MoC.
The post of chairman IPO Pakistan has been vacant since June 2021, as the ministry could not complete the recruitment process for various reasons.
As per details, the candidate, who was proposed as top one in the panel after the selection process has reportedly retired in January 2019 and he is over 63 years old. As per the rules of recruitment under MP Scale Policy 2020, the age of a candidate should not be more than 62 years as he would have to complete the 3-year contractual term by attaining the age of 65.
The selected candidate Farukh Amil has been Pakistan’s Ambassador to Japan, Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the UN in New York.
However, the candidate on second number, Muhammad Javed Ghani, meets the age limit as he was retired from services on April 10, 2021. Interestingly the third candidate in the panel also exceeds the age limit set for the MP-1 scale post. Dr Arslan was superannuated from service on July 22, 2020. He was a BS-21 officer of Pakistan Customs Service, served as Member Customs (Legal & Accounting), FBR, DG CPEC (Customs) and DG Intellectual Property Rights (Enforcement).
However, an official spokesperson of the Ministry of Commerce, when contacted, claimed that ap-pointment of Chairman IPO was made under the section 9 of IPO Act 2012 not on the basis of MP-1 scale. Interestingly the said act of IPO is silent about the eligibility of the candidate as it simply says “There shall be a Chairman of the Organization to be appointed by the Federal Government for a term of three years.” The MoC official of MoC, when asked, admitted that under this rule even a candidate of over 70 years old can be appointed as chairman.
On the other hand, their Cabinet Division’s OM dated 19-10-2007 which provides that chair-man/members of regulatory authorities/autonomous bodies/ commission etc shall cease to hold office on attaining the age of 65 years or expiry of tenure whichever is earlier. However, the MoC official claims that the Division’s rule was an advisory one not compulsory.
Interestingly, the advertisement published for inviting applications against the same post clearly shows the emolument as PM-1 Scale. However the advertisement has not mentioned the maximum age limit unlike similar advertisements of ministries/divisions.
According to an insider privy to the development, some potential candidates of the post were concerned that the ministry’s high ups, by not mentioning the age limit and relevant experiences in the advertisement, have apparently tried to facilitate blue-eyed candidates.
Interestingly, the MoC in its advertisement published on February 11, 2022 regarding appoint-ment against the post of Chief Executive of Trade Development Authority of Pakistan (TDAP) (MP-1 scale), another attached department, has clearly mentioned the maximum age limit of 62 years.
The IPO Pakistan, an important organization of the ministry, has been without a head for the past over 17 months as the selection process could not be completed for various shortcomings. The ministry had advertised the post in August 2021.
