ISLAMABAD: As the Ministry of Commerce (MoC) has finally forwarded a panel of candidates for appointment of Chairman Intellectual Property Organization (IPO), the ministry has reportedly violated the age limit set for appointment against the post of MP-1 scale.
According to reliable sources, the MoC has 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 Prime Minister 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 has been 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 top 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).
The IPO Pakistan, an important organization of the ministry, has been without a head for the past over 15 months as the selection process could not be completed for various shortcomings. Although, the ministry advertised the post in August 2021, it is yet to fill the vacant post.
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 tried to facilitate blue-eyed candidates.
Interestingly, the MoC in its advertisement published on February 11, 2022 regarding appointment 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.
