Government formally dissolves CADD

No decision yet on the fate of 250 officials and records of the division

ISLAMABAD: Nearly a month after the federal cabinet decided to do away with the ministry, the federal government on Wednesday formally dissolved the apex administrative body of the federal capital through a notification, merging the 27 departments and directorates working under it with the relevant federal ministries.

As per a notification released from the cabinet division, the Capital Administration and Development Division (CADD) ministry was dissolved.

The notification also spelt out which federal ministry or authority will gain control of the devolved departments in the federal capital.

Of these, 10 departments and directorates were merged with the National Health Services Regulation and Coordination Division — under the federal health ministry. These departments and directorates include all charitable endowments for the federal areas, medical and health services for federal government employees, administrative control of the National Institute of Handicapped, the Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto Medical University (SZABMU), the Federal Medical and Dental College, the Federal General Hospital, the National Institute of Rehabilitative Medicine, the District Population Welfare Office, the Federal Government Services Hospital (Polyclinic), and the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims).

As many as eight departments and directorates of CADD were handed over to the federal education ministry. These include the federal college of education, the Federal Directorate of Education — which oversees all schools and colleges in the capital, the Federal Polytechnic Institute of Women, the Sir Syed School and College of Special Education in Rawalpindi, the training education and rehabilitation of the specially-abled in the capital, the Private Educational Institutions Regulatory Authority (PEIRA) — which regulates all private schools in the capital, the Special Education Directorate General and the social welfare, special education, welfare, development and rehabilitation of children and the disabled in the federal area.

One organization, the Capital Development Authority (CDA), has been handed over to the interior ministry. The function of managing and distributing Zakat and Ushr in the federal capital have also been given broadly under the interior ministry but will primarily be dealt with by the Islamabad Capital Territory Administration (ICTA) — which also operates under the interior ministry.

The Inter-Provincial and Coordination Ministry gets two entities and departments of the capital including the Gun and Country Club — which had been declared to be illegal by the Supreme Court two months ago, and the attached department of Tourist Services in Islamabad.

The divisions of climate change, cabinet, overseas Pakistanis and human resource development and the national history and literary heritage get one CADD institution each.

The climate change division gets control of the Islamabad Wildlife Management Board — which is responsible for managing the flora and fauna of the capital, especially in the Margalla Hills National Park (MHNP), including tackling of any wildfires there.

The Cabinet Division gets control of the upscale Islamabad Club. The National History and Literary Heritage Division gets control of the attached department of libraries and the Overseas Pakistanis and Human Resource Development Division gets the attached department of Directorate of Workers’ Education.

The notification further stated that any necessary changes required in the Rules of Business 1973 will be made in due course of time, separately. While CADD’s attached departments will keep on functioning as before, just under new divisions and ministries, but the fate of over 250 employees and the official record of the division has yet to be decided.

CADD officials said that a meeting on this may be called soon to decide the matter, CADD spokesperson Alamgir said.

The federal cabinet of the incoming Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) had decided in only its second-ever meeting on August 24 to abolish CADD and its functions would be devolved to relevant departments. 

Published in The Express Tribune, September 20^th, 2018.