ISLAMABAD: The Interim Federal Cabinet has approved the controversial rules for the appointment of National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) chairman, opening the door for employees to be appointed as the head of the agency. .
Reliable sources told The News that the Home Ministry’s summary received by the Cabinet Division clearly approved the inclusion of the extraordinary post of NADRA Chairman on deputation or secondment basis in the new rules. Is.
Sources also expressed surprise at the development as the process of appointing the head of a sensitive agency like NADRA had reached the names of at least three final candidates.
Among the final candidates were former NADRA chairman Usman Mubeen, acting chairman NADRA appointed by bureaucrat and former prime minister Shahbaz Sharif Asad Gilani and Ahmed Kamal associated with a private mobile phone company.
However, even for this appointment, the caretaker government had to take permission from the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP).
Instead of taking permission for the appointment of Chairman NADRA on merit, the caretaker government changed the appointment rules in a meeting chaired by Caretaker Prime Minister Anwar-ul-Haq Kakar.
Now a servant can be appointed as the head of this institution of extraordinary importance.
Sources say that the caretaker government has no power to change the rules, but this power has been exercised.
The NADRA Ordinance clearly states that only an independent person can be appointed to this post, which means that no government official, retired officer or secretary can be given the post.
It is worth mentioning here that NADRA has to play the most important responsibilities along with ECP in the upcoming elections.
Sources say that the Chief Election Commissioner will decide whether this first and controversial decision of the caretaker government is wrong or right.
