Babar opposes army officer’s appointment as DG military lands

Senator Farhatullah Babar speaking on a point of order in the Senate on Wednesday drew attention to the reports that a serving military office was being appointed as director general military lands and cantonments department and called for rejecting the summary reportedly moved to safeguard the interests of the federal government as the owner of the land.

He said that under the administrative reforms of 1973 all posts in the Military Lands and Cantonment department are to be filled in through a nation wide competitive examination held by the FPSC and the post of DG was to be filled in by promotion from among officers of the group.

However, General Musharraf in contravention of the law and rules appointed serving military officers to the post which practice still continued.

Farhatullah Babar said that all lands belonged to the government and the MLC department managed the defense lands on behalf of the owner of land namely the federal government. A serving military officer however represented the user of the defense lands namely the defence forces.

“By appointing a serving military officer to the post of DG the crucial distinction between the user and regulator had been done away with. The land user had now also become its regulator on behalf of the federal government which was intrinsically wrong,” he said.

He said that the Military Estate Officers in the cantonments were agents of the federal government and worked under the DG of the department and thus placed under the user when the DG was a serving military officer. “This conflict of interest had resulted in the legitimate interest of federal government as land owner being compromised,” he said and pleaded that serving military officers be not appointed to the post of DG.

He said the post of DG should be restored to the officers of the group as provided in the rules as the existing practice was not only a gross violation of the rules but also bred resentment among officers of the MLC department recruited through the FPSC and demoralized them.

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Posted by Tahir Khan on Jun 19 2013. Filed under Latest News, National, Pakistan, Politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.