Govt employees: Funding crunch stalls scrutiny of degrees
The Establishment Division needs Rs250m for verifying credential of 200,000 staff.
ISLAMABAD:
The scrutiny of academic certificates of as many as 350,000 government employees is likely to come to a halt on the Finance Division’s refusal to release funds, officials said on Thursday.
The Establishment Division had asked for Rs250 million for completing the verification of degrees of around 200,000 workers in the first stage.
Citing the effects of the financial crunch, the finance ministry declined to release the funds, asserting that it did not have sufficient resources.
“It can release only Rs34 million allocated for its (Establishment Division’s) development funds in fiscal year 2011-12,” said the finance ministry in a letter.
As much as Rs2,500 is required for verifying a degree, said one of the officials engaged in the exercise.
“The process is likely to come to an end … because the whole exercise needs around Rs875 million,” he said.
Earlier, the then secretary ED, Abdul Rauf Chaudhry had sent letters to public and private sector universities, seeking to know how much they charged for verifying degrees.
Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani had directed the Establishment Division to verify federal government employees’ educational certificates in February this year.
Since then, degrees of 127 employees of the management services wing, 66 of training wing, 23 of discipline and litigation wing, 56 of regulation wing, 23 of the planning wing, 24 of the establishment wing and degrees of 14 employees of the administrative wing could be verified so far, according to officials.
Secretary Establishment Division Sohail Ahmad, who is now working as an officer on special duty (OSD), said that the degree verification process was progressing at a snail’s pace.
“I think, the exercise will end soon because of lack of funds,” he said.
Spokesperson for the Establishment Division Aftab Jamal is also not optimistic about early completion of this exercise. He said: “This month, only four officers’ educational degrees were verified.”
Although all heads of departments concerned had been directed to fulfill Premier Gilani’s order within two months, they could not comply because of the finance ministry’s refusal to release funds, officials said.
The Establishment Division and the Cabinet Division had decided on February 6 this year to devise a mechanism for verifying education credentials of all government employees, they added.
However, officials of the finance division declined to comment on the situation. One official said: “I am not aware of any such (Establishment Division) request.”
Earlier, authorities dealing with the verification process were confused about the mechanism. They did not know “whether the Higher Education Commission and the Federal Public Service Commission should be involved or not”. They took at least four months to start the exercise but the attempt faltered because of a shortage of funds.
Subsequently, secretaries of the Establishment Division, Cabinet Division, ministries of finance and law and the chairman of the Federal Board of Revenue had agreed that all departments concerned will verify the degrees rather than engaging the HEC.
Published in The Express Tribune, July 29th, 2011.
The scrutiny of academic certificates of as many as 350,000 government employees is likely to come to a halt on the Finance Division’s refusal to release funds, officials said on Thursday.
The Establishment Division had asked for Rs250 million for completing the verification of degrees of around 200,000 workers in the first stage.
Citing the effects of the financial crunch, the finance ministry declined to release the funds, asserting that it did not have sufficient resources.
“It can release only Rs34 million allocated for its (Establishment Division’s) development funds in fiscal year 2011-12,” said the finance ministry in a letter.
As much as Rs2,500 is required for verifying a degree, said one of the officials engaged in the exercise.
“The process is likely to come to an end … because the whole exercise needs around Rs875 million,” he said.
Earlier, the then secretary ED, Abdul Rauf Chaudhry had sent letters to public and private sector universities, seeking to know how much they charged for verifying degrees.
Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani had directed the Establishment Division to verify federal government employees’ educational certificates in February this year.
Since then, degrees of 127 employees of the management services wing, 66 of training wing, 23 of discipline and litigation wing, 56 of regulation wing, 23 of the planning wing, 24 of the establishment wing and degrees of 14 employees of the administrative wing could be verified so far, according to officials.
Secretary Establishment Division Sohail Ahmad, who is now working as an officer on special duty (OSD), said that the degree verification process was progressing at a snail’s pace.
“I think, the exercise will end soon because of lack of funds,” he said.
Spokesperson for the Establishment Division Aftab Jamal is also not optimistic about early completion of this exercise. He said: “This month, only four officers’ educational degrees were verified.”
Although all heads of departments concerned had been directed to fulfill Premier Gilani’s order within two months, they could not comply because of the finance ministry’s refusal to release funds, officials said.
The Establishment Division and the Cabinet Division had decided on February 6 this year to devise a mechanism for verifying education credentials of all government employees, they added.
However, officials of the finance division declined to comment on the situation. One official said: “I am not aware of any such (Establishment Division) request.”
Earlier, authorities dealing with the verification process were confused about the mechanism. They did not know “whether the Higher Education Commission and the Federal Public Service Commission should be involved or not”. They took at least four months to start the exercise but the attempt faltered because of a shortage of funds.
Subsequently, secretaries of the Establishment Division, Cabinet Division, ministries of finance and law and the chairman of the Federal Board of Revenue had agreed that all departments concerned will verify the degrees rather than engaging the HEC.
Published in The Express Tribune, July 29th, 2011.