The body met here on Thursday with Senator Malik Rafique Rajwana in the chair where several objections were raised over the appointment of chairman PTA and removal of Ex Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Universal Service Funds (USF) Riaz Ashar Siddiqui.
The Committee showed concern over Awan's appointment as Chairman PTA, saying that the Awan was appointed as member of the Authority and after two days promoted to the post of chairman. "The appointment was made on Saturday which is a gazetted holiday and this shows how much this process was transparent," the committee observed. Humayun Mandokhel said that Awan was involved in a billion rupees scam but the government appointed him as Chairman of Regulatory body.
The Committee observed that the Chairman PTA should be a senior person with sufficient technical background, but it seems that this criteria was ignored. It further showed concerns over the insufficient record regarding the appointment of Chairman PTA and directed officials of the Cabinet secretariat to ensure their presence as well as that of the PTA chairman in the next meeting with complete record.
The committee also raised the issue of removal of Ex-CEO Universal Service Funds (USF) Riaz Ashar Siddiqui and said that the ex-CEO was removed without any solid allegations. The Senators said that the details provided by the officials regarding the board of directors meeting about the removal of Riaz Siddiqui shows that during the meeting no allegations against Ashar Siddiqui were discussed.
They said that it was crystal clear that board members had already decided to remove him and to bring in the new CEO. The probation period for the CEO was not listed in the documents and sufficient material was not provided to support that the removal of Ex CEO was on legal grounds.