Shahbaz, who had been holding 15 portfolios, still maintains seven additional departments including health; home; chief minister inspection team; services and general administration; social welfare; special education; and mines and minerals.
According to statistics of the Punjab government, after the 18th Amendment there were 39 portfolios in the Punjab Cabinet which were being catered by only 16 ministers till March 2011. Out of the 16 ministers, nine were held by the Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) and seven by Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) ministers — under a 60 to 40 proportion as mentioned in the Charter of Democracy.
Initially, the chief minister tried to run the departments through a task force but after criticism from the opposition and media, he handed over the ministries but did not increase the number of ministers in the Cabinet.
In the last budget, the Punjab chief minister had abolished four departments out of the 39 and emerged them into different departments as part of an austerity drive.
In March 2011, after the removal of PPP’s seven ministers from the Punjab Cabinet, Shahbaz added another three departments to his portfolio, giving him a total of 15 portfolios.
Technically after the 18th Amendment, the chief minister is authorised to appoint five advisers and two special assistants with the seat of senior adviser being abolished from the Constitution.
At present, Shahbaz has a total five advisers including Senior Adviser Zulfiqar Khosa, Jehazaib Khan Burki, Zakia Shahnawaz, Raja Ishfaq Sarwar and Saeed Mehdi. He also has two special assistants Senator Perveiz Rashid and Manshaullah Butt.
Under the law, advisers and special assistants are not part of the Cabinet. Despite the fact that they cannot attend the official Cabinet meetings, Shahbaz has been inviting his advisers to these meetings.
Official in the Cabinet section said that though the advisers had been assigned portfolios, the main power remained with the chief minister himself. “The major decisions will be taken by the CM himself,” sources said.
Shahbaz’s Seven
Eight departments were devolved on Thursday and assigned to the following seven ministers:
Malik Nadeem Kamran has the portfolio of Zakat and Ushr
Provincial Minister for Excise and Taxation Department Mian Mujtaba Shujaur Rehman has the additional charge of Transport, School Education, Literacy and NFBE and Higher Education
Human Rights and Minority Affairs Minister Kamran Michael has the additional portfolio of Women Development and Finance
Planning and Development Minister Chaudhry Abdul Ghafoor has the Energy Department
Agriculture Minister Malik Ahmad Ali Aolakh has the Live Stock and Dairy, Forestry Fisheries and Wildlife, Irrigation Department, Communication and Works Department
Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Rana Sanaullah Khan has the Board of Revenue, Local Government Department
Auqaf and Religious Affairs Minister Haji Ehsanuddin Qureshi has the additional Labour and Human Rights Housing and Urban Development, and Public Health Engineering Department
Published in The Express Tribune, February 3rd, 2012.
COMMENTS (30)
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Punjab recently saw the dengue epidemic, which was followed by the new issue of deaths due to spurious medicines. Hundreds of people died in both cases. Government servants were terminated at the time of the dengue issue and government servants are being terminated for being involved in the spurious medicines issue as well. But no one tends to look at the root cause of both the issues. Be it the Intermediate results discrepancy or Young Doctors Association protests, no one tends to concentrate on the origins of these problems. Many issues of this nature have been brought to the limelight in a couple of months. The ‘Khadim-e-Aala’ Punjab is in control of over a dozen ministries, which is not humanly possible for a single person to look after. Almost 20 departments are working without their heads and Chief Minister Punjab Shahbaz Sharif expects them to work efficiently? A department can only work properly in the presence of its head. No matter how inefficient your party’s members of the provincial assembly may be, but if given a chance, they can surely handle the affairs better than one single person. The head of a department is responsible for all the slackness of its department, so why does Mr Sharif not terminate himself rather than the civil servants? Please do us all a favour and distribute the ministries among your party members and make them devise ways to strictly implement the laws. It will be the biggest favour you could do for your people.
Punjab recently saw the dengue epidemic, which was followed by the new issue of deaths due to spurious medicines. Hundreds of people died in both cases. Government servants were terminated at the time of the dengue issue and government servants are being terminated for being involved in the spurious medicines issue as well. But no one tends to look at the root cause of both the issues. Be it the Intermediate results discrepancy or Young Doctors Association protests, no one tends to concentrate on the origins of these problems. Many issues of this nature have been brought to the limelight in a couple of months. The ‘Khadim-e-Aala’ Punjab is in control of over a dozen ministries, which is not humanly possible for a single person to look after. Almost 20 departments are working without their heads and Chief Minister Punjab Shahbaz Sharif expects them to work efficiently? A department can only work properly in the presence of its head. No matter how inefficient your party’s members of the provincial assembly may be, but if given a chance, they can surely handle the affairs better than one single person. The head of a department is responsible for all the slackness of its department, so why does Mr Sharif not terminate himself rather than the civil servants? Please do us all a favour and distribute the ministries among your party members and make them devise ways to strictly implement the laws. It will be the biggest favour you could do for your people.
@Hasan: So according to your logic, the Federal Minister of Trade should resign since he allowed importation of drugs into the nation that were used in tainted manufacturing. Also by your logic, the Industries Minister and the Health Minister in Sind should resign since the Efroze Company based in Karachi, Sind made the medicines. While you only care about scoring political points, I can tell you that citizens want improvements and results. That's why Shahbaz Sharif has the support of the people of his province. He has brought about improvement and results. Compare the overall management of Punjab to any other province. Why is it so much better? This should give you food for thought.
@Amjad: Because he was in charge of the Health ministry which had a duty to oversee the health industry; he failed in his duty - hence he should resign!
Assalamowalakum
My name is zaahed and am setteled in Canada,I watched recently on tv about death of innocent peoples. A London laboratory has determined that Isotab, a medicine manufactured by Efroze Chemical Industries, caused the reaction that has so far cost 120 lives.
I have extensive experience in pharmaceutical manufactuiring and am currently working in a qualtiy assurance department in one of the largest canadian pharmaceuticals
I would like to share my experience, This is a clear incidence of mismangement, there are few things needs to be addressed
1- was the staff responsible for drug manufacturinfg was properly trained and is there any proof available of their training?
2- Before the batch of a drug is released to the market,quality control laboratory carries out chemical analyisis on finished product, this is usually done by running the sample against standards on a chromatogram, any foreign material apperars in the form of a spike,was this spike was over looked by the quality control department and who approved the final chemical analysis of this batch 3- equipments used for chemical analysis inside the lab were calibrated and were they in good working condition?
4-Retain samples are maintained by the quality assurance department (if yes) then they should be tested in the laboratory of the same company to prove that the equipments are in good working condition rather than sending it to third party for testing.this would prove that a drug was marketed even it failed to meet releasing specifications. 5-what system does the company carries to investigate errors during manufacturing and what other products and batches are affected due to this violation.
6- Does the company have internal quality survillance department and how authoritative it is?
in order to avoid such incidents in future a GMP(Good manufacturing practice) task force needs to be established who sholud have the authority to randomly audit pharmaceuticals manufacturing units all over Pakistan. This GMP task force should be manged by federal/provincial goverments .I can futrher discuss this in detail,this would help to raise the standard of Pharma industry in Pakistan.This GMP task force should be comprised of honest pharmceutical professionals who have fear of God.
if you think we need more improvement then send me a reply e mail and i will send you my contact information so that i can benefit my country with my expertise.
regards
zaahed
@Born Political:
Is this a joke? The Sharif's didnt make Pakistan an atomic power, Bhutto did! They pressed the button at max and that to is disputed by many.
CM Punjab! Efroze is one of the most well respected Pakistani brands and clearly it was supplying quality drugs to all hospitals including many in your province. Thus clearly the problem does not lie with the factory in Karachi but Punjab Institute of Cardiology (PIC) in Lahore.
It would be better for everyone if you stop shouting and start working!
@born political: your argument is the same as saying that the current 3000 MW added to the national grid should be attributed to the present government instead of the one that initiated the projects. Z.A. Bhutto started the nuclear program and not the Sharif brothers! Efforts by the Sharif brothers are always skewed and lopsided to retain their own power, as we see in the pecuniary imbalance between north and south Punjab.
@AHMAD HASSAN AWAN
Have you ever seen a local bodies member to conduct 6 nuclear tests and make their country atomic power???
@Lahori: sure he proved himself wrong
When one sees the army of ministers at centre and compares its performance relative to its size, than he or she is aught to side with CM of Punjab. At least he was saving the huge expenses on the maintenance of these ministers. Conversely 62% population province being governed by one instead of 18, truly speaking speaks of dearth of competent people. Top notch leading the list of incompetents is the CM by himself in whose eyes no one is competent enough to do justice with the assigned task. While in fact this act of his proves him to be the most incompetent from management, administration and good governance theories. How once can do for 18 is the very obvious proof to support this view point. Biggest fault and draw back lies with masses. It looks as people of Pakistan have compromised with that sense of their feelings in which what ever is done to them and who so ever does it they are not ready to react. This sign of give up in fact is the main disease of this nation. it looks as all have become duds and as a society have lost all kinds of senses and directions. When such state of affairs prevails in a nation then any one can play with it. So is the state of affair. At all levels top elite is playing its game and will continue to do so as long masses keep on behaving like a dead body.
Excellent decision. Rather than being adamant and arrogant he gave up the ministries and did not make it a matter of pride. Well done sir, but now there will be fingers pointing towards you on having a larger cabinet and more expenditures, what to do what to do!! =D
I think the text on that mic says everything about this story. Finally the control freak lets it go.
Amazing. They can't govern Punjab and they think they can govern the country? Give me a break!
@uet: Please refer to Colonel's comment
@AHMAD HASSAN AWAN: Please restrain urself from dragging ur lame thoughts about PTI into every discussion
Shahbaz Sharif and Nawaz Sharif are vision less minnows who by the ignorance of people have become shallow heavywights. Their vision is no better than local bodies members.
PML N including all incumbent Political Parties should be rested in Next General Elections and vote for CHANGE mean Tahreek Insaf. Just Try them out . Who Knows!
@Shahid Shahbaz Sharif is not politician, someone like dictator/beurocrat.
He is not directly responsible but in democratric culture minister is responsible. In rail accident, minster was not driving but he usually resign.
Will any body elucidate to us whether Shahbaz 'Sharif ' has been getting salaries and enjoying perks of 18 Ministeries for doing nothing and impersonating Zulfiqar Ali Butto badly or otherwise
its too late to be true!
Jibran, would yu mind me finding anything like hajj scandal, rental power projects, NLC etc in Punjab. Dont talk about life in pakistan, it is way cheaper in sind, NWFP , and Baluchistan. At least he tries to tackle the issues unlike other provinces.
Local Government: Given to Punjab Law Minister Rana Sanaullah.
I protest!
@Colonel: Shahbaz Sharif has proved himself the most corrupt and most incompetent chief minister of Pakistan. After relieving himself of 8 ministries, he has demonstrated that either he was wrong earlier or wrong now. Sadly it has cost Punjab more than 1000 innocent lives.
I just had a detailed look the credentials of people who've given the portfolios. Is this a joke? All the portfolios have been given to CM's yes-men, who are already part of his team. Pathetic!
@shahid: lol better than Pervaiz Elahi? Pervaiz Elahi worked hard for the Province for development in every sector, and what he did? Sasti roti scam, Danish School scandal, Yellow cab blunder, Laptops for university students who themselves are capable of buying, Plaza's Scandal, Dengue, Health sector scams, Increase in crime rate, 10% of Funds utilization, ??????? When CM Pervaiz Elahi left charge of his office, the surplus budget of Punjab was 180 Bn, and now Punjab Gov. is under heavy loans of more than 220 Bn Rs.
SO how he is better?prove ur argument right
Provincial Minister for Agriculture Amhad Ali Aulakh has been given Ministry of Communication and works Does that make any sense?
@sashayub: Why should he step down when contaminated medicines made by the Efroze Company in Karachi killed innocent people? Did he do it? NO. Rather than try to score points from a tragic incident, Shahbaz Sharif is conducting an inquiry to ensure that such an occurrence will not happen again. I am sure he will make sure that this tragedy never happens again because he has done wonders to improve the Punjab. Do you know that raw materials for the drug companies are imported and thus under the Federal jurisdiction.
he is still better then all politicans
....finally, after so many innocent lives lost, all he does is give back ministries....he should be stepping down, and not just handing out ministries