Acting NTS chief refuses to budge

Says technology minister’s decision to sack him ‘illegal’

ISLAMABAD: Refusing to step down, acting National Testing Service (NTS) chief Sherzada Khan has termed the decision of Minister for Science and Technology Mir Dostain Khan Domki to sack him as “illegal”.

The NTS, a top-notch recruitment body, has lately been marred by allegations of corruption and killing of merit in Pakistan.

Last Friday, Domki had written a letter to Chairman of NTS Board of Directors (BoD) Dr Raheel Qamar to remove acting chief executive officer (CEO) Khan and hold an independent inquiry into the conduct of the latter and the NTS affairs and submit the report within a month.



However, on Saturday, Khan sent an email to the NTS employees stating that the minister had no authority to remove him.

Backing Khan’s statement, an official of the NTS said, “The recruitment body is registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) and under its rules and regulations only the BoD has the authority to remove Khan, not the ministry.”

On Sunday, a few members of the BoD met in Islamabad to devise a future course of strategy to tackle the prevailing challenges arising from several probes.

According to sources, the acting CEO was not invited to the meeting which was headed by COMSATS Executive Director Junaid Zaidi, who is said to be the mover and shaker of NTS affairs.

Further details of the meeting could not be obtained despite several attempts.

The acting chief of NTS said that he came to know through the media that the minister had written a letter for his removal, but “legally he cannot do this”.

In his defence against the allegations of corruption and misconduct, Khan said, “I ran the company as per the rules and tried to clean it and introduced strict checks and balances.”

He further added that he took action against a few people indulged in corrupt practices and resisted political pressure to favour some individuals.



Elaborating on corrupt practices, Khan said that he had requested the director general of Federal Investigation Agency through a letter and later met him to help in probing the financial misappropriation in the NTS.

He said, “Some politicians in the Senate and the National Assembly are conspiring against the NTS and its CEO.”

Khan refused to further comment on the issue, saying he was not in a position to talk about it.

A customs court in Rawalpindi has summoned six NTS officials, including Khan, on Tuesday in a case pertaining to “money-laundering and tax evasion, and concealment of assets” in which Rs682million was falling short out of the total amount of Rs2.025 billion between 2011 and 2016.

The petition was filed on behalf of the Federal Board of Revenue Directorate of Intelligence and Investigation.

On the other hand, Senator Sherry Rehman has also submitted an adjournment motion in the Senate for “non-action over alleged irregularities in the NTS, involvement in corrupt practices and killing merit in Pakistan”. She called for a full-fledged probe into the irregularities of the NTS to reveal a clearer picture.