ACC for filing case against 10 corrupt WASA officials

Staff Reporter :
The Dhaka Water Supply and Sewerage Authority (WASA) authorities have appointed two employees as director, even though these positions were not included in the official organogram. Approximately Tk 20 million was misappropriated through these directors’ appointment by abusing power.

The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) has recommended filing a case against 10 individuals, including WASA’s Managing Director, Taqsem A Khan, on these charges.

Beyond these two directors, Dhaka WASA has appointed at least 9 positions with personnel those are not outlined in the organogram.

According to protocol, any financial-related decision should undergo an approval process involving the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Local Government.

However, this procedure was disregarded regarding these appointments. Consequently, government funds are being squandered on salaries and allowances for these personnel, much like the scenario with the appointment of the two directors.

Mohammad Firoz Mia, an expert on government service rules and former Additional Secretary, said that no one has the authority to appoint anyone outside of the approved posts. Even if the appointment is on contractual basis, there should be specific posts.

Such appointments are outright corruption.

The post should be created first if not listed in the organogram. It requires the approval of the Ministry of Public Administration and Ministry of Finance.

Dhaka WASA operates under government-approved regulations concerning the recruitment of personnel.

The ‘Dhaka WASA (Officers and Employees) Service Regulations, 2010’ delineates the specifics of how manpower can be appointed and what the necessary qualifications are.

According to the law, there is no scope to make appointments in Dhaka WASA outside of these posts.

According to the officials of various departments of Dhaka WASA, despite not being listed in the organogram, WASA authorities made appointments for the posts of Chief Disciplinary Officer, Chief Security Officer, Finance and VAT-Tax Officer, Assistant Finance and VAT-Tax Officer, Assistant Legal Officer, District Meter Area (DMA) Manager, DMA Assistant Manager, Billing Assistant and Machineman. Among them there are 8 DMA Managers and 24 DMA Assistant Managers.

More than 100 people have been appointed for the posts of Billing Assistant and Machineman.

Despite not being included in the organogram, the Dhaka WASA authority is currently conducting appointment processes for the positions of Chief Media Officer and Media Officer.

Advertisements have been placed in newspapers to fill these roles.

Additionally, efforts are in progress to appoint 44 individuals to a non-organogram posts ‘SCADA Operations Engineer’.

WASA authorities can start the appointment process for new posts only after creation of posts, but no such procedure was followed in the recruitment to the above mentioned posts.

The board has taken permission to make contractual appointments for those posts, but the posts have not been created in the organogram.

Attempts were made to contact Dhaka WASA Managing Director Taqsem A Khan regarding these appointments, but he did not respond to calls on his mobile phone.