PTI govt approves merger of Textile, Commerce Divisions

Govt also gives approval for merging 19 entities of seven ministries, divisions

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government has approved the merger of Textile Division and Postal Division with the Commerce Division and Ministry of Communication, respectively, along with the transfer and merger of several other entities.

The government approved the merger of 19 organisational entities belonging to seven ministries/divisions, transfer of nine organisational entities to other ministries/divisions and winding up of five entities belonging to five ministries and divisions. However, this would be done with the consent of the administrative ministries and divisions concerned.

According to officials of the Establishment Division, the cabinet had constituted an implementation committee for reorganising the federal government, consisting of members as notified by the government.

The mandate of the committee was to work out an implementation strategy and a work plan in consultation with a task force. The committee was to complete the task within six months and present monthly implementation progress reports to the government. In compliance with the cabinet’s decision, the implementation committee submitted its first progress report for the months of July-August 2019.

The report, which included the committee’s recommendations for the executive departments and autonomous bodies, was presented to the cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Imran Khan, in its meeting held on September 17, 2019.

The cabinet decided that recommendations of the implementation committee, where complete consensus had been reached by the ministries and divisions, would be implemented. It also decided that further deliberations would be held to arrive at a consensus on the recommendations against which objections had been raised by any ministry or division.

The implementation of these decisions is under way. For the September-October report, five meetings of the implementation committee were held from September 6 to October 15, 2019.

As per directives of the committee, lists of proposed executive departments, autonomous bodies/grant-in-aid bodies, organisations proposed to be transferred to provinces, Gilgit-Baltistan and ICT, organisations proposed for merger and organisations proposed for winding up and liquidation were circulated amongst all the administrative ministries and divisions concerned. Their views and objections were sought in respect of the proposed entities.

The respective secretaries and representatives were invited to present their viewpoints on the proposed reorganisation of entities of their ministries and divisions for the report. The feedback and reservations were deliberated threadbare.

The committee discussed the proposals regarding executive departments and autonomous bodies of the ministries and divisions and the statutory bodies working under the Prime Minister’s Office.

The ministries and divisions concerned and the PM Office agreed to the proposals. After deliberations, 19 organisational entities belonging to seven ministries/divisions were recommended for merger with the consent of their administrative ministries/divisions. Apart from these, the merger of Textile Division with the Commerce Division and the Postal Division with the Ministry of Communication was also recommended.

There were certain cases in which the committee took decisions in principle and gave directives to the ministries/divisions concerned, accordingly. Moreover, in some cases, discussions were held but they did not reach any conclusion.

In such cases, directives were given by the committee to the ministries/divisions regarding proposed reorganisation of their entities, which would be taken up for deliberation in the ensuing meeting. The government has accorded approval to the recommendations of the implementation committee.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 29^th, 2019.

Like Business on Facebook, follow @TribuneBiz on Twitter to stay informed and join in the conversation.