Ad hoc heads running capital’s educational bodies

The legal department of FDE is without a senior law officer

ISLAMABAD: Ad hoc, it seems, has become a culture in educational bodies in the federal capital with as many as 17 institutions operating under the federal education ministry in the city working without permanent heads.

This has caused their performance to suffer.

One of the key institutions which is suffering from the ad-hoc and temporary heads syndrome is the Private Educational Institutions Regulatory Authority (PEIRA). Its office of director general is without a permanent appointee while it has not had a full-time chairman for the past six years.

It was headed by Hasnat Ahmed Qureshi under the previous Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) regime, an official from the audit group. His charge was withdrawn and given to Member Academic Imtiaz Ahmed Qureshi, who currently occupies the office.

Key offices at other educational institutions which remain vacant are the director general seats at the National Education Foundation (NEF), Federal Directorate of Education (FDE), and Basic Education Community Schools (BECS) along with the office of secretary general at the National Commission for the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).



Sources say that around 17 institutions run under the education ministry are being operated with the help of temporarily deployed officials.

These include the NEF where a basic pay scale (BPS) grade-20 officer Qaiser Majeed has been deployed. Moreover, the additional charge of managing director has been given to Senior Director Tahira Sheikh.

The Federal Directorate of Education (FDE), which administratively controls the 423 government educational institutions in the city, is also looking to permanently fill its director-general’s seat since 2016, the post being run on an ad-hoc basis by Senior Director Chand Asghar from BECS.

The secretary-general’s office at the NCUNESCO has been vacant for the past two-and-a-half years.

The federal college of education and federal college of economics, both of which are run by the ministry of education, are also looking for permanent heads to effectively run the institutions.

Rafiq Tahir, a spokesperson for the Education Ministry, said that they a set of recommendations for permanently hiring people on these positions has been sent for approval to the establishment division and that they are waiting for the division to finalise them.

No senior law officer

Apart from the struggles at the top, it has been revealed that the FDE currently does not have a senior official handling its legal department because the incumbent has been sent on deputation.

The FDE’s legal wing is thus being run by an assistant director who does not even hold a law degree.

Appointed through the federal public service commission, the deputy director legal of FDE has been sent to Punjab on deputation.

Sources say that Assistant Director Rehan Naqvi was basically appointed as a graduate teacher but was promoted to assistant director. But he is now presented as a ‘law-person’ and is relying on the BPS-16 officer. They further said that despite lacking a law degree, he as reportedly represented the body in courts.

Sources say that the four seats for assistant directors have been lying vacant since 1986.

However, after much pressure, one officer was promoted to the post on May 17, 2011. The promotion was allegedly given to an officer over a host of other, arguably more deserving officials.



Due to the appointment of an official who lacks a legal degree, a number of cases of the FDE on the promotion of officers, rules and regulations are facing delays due to ill-representation.

Sources further say that this has resulted in settling a number of issues out of court.

When asked, a senior officer of the FDE explained that it was not necessary for officers in the legal wing to have law degrees.

The official further explained that Naqvi has a great understanding of service matters which is why his services have been retained in the law wing.

Yasir Chatta, a spokesperson for the FDE, said that the law wing only has to answer legal queries submitted by the concerned section.

He dismissed reports of lack of representation in courts, stating that an attorney and not section officers represent the body in court. Moreover, when working on legal appeals, help from professional lawyers is taken.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 25^th, 2019.