‘Tenure of IBA executive director not to be extended’

The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has barred the caretaker Sindh government from extending the tenure of the Institute of Business Administration (IBA) Karachi Executive Director Dr S Akbar Zaidi.

Zaidi's four-year tenure will end on January 12, 2024. He was appointed by the previous Sindh government on January 13, 2020, after which he left for the United States on a six-month leave and was running the management of IBA online from there.

Following the dissolution of Sindh Assembly at the end of its tenure in August 2023 the caretaker Sindh government took over the affairs of the province for an interim period.

The Caretaker Chief Minister Justice (retd) Maqbool Baqar approved a summary sent by the search committee/universities and boards department on November 13 to give Zaidi extension for four more years.

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The summary was sent to the Election Commission of Pakistan (EC) for final approval, however, the commission rejected it with remarks that the request for the extension in the tenure of Zaidi "for further period of four years has been declined by the honorable commission".

A senior officer of the Sindh government told The Express Tribune that since the ECP has refused to extend Zaidi's tenure, the caretaker setup might consider fighting on legal grounds.

However, the officer said, the interim Sindh government, is not finding a solution for this issue, except that he should be allowed to work on this post till further orders, and in the meantime, if the elections are held as per the schedule, the elected provincial government will decide the fate of Zaidi's employment tenure.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 29^th, 2023.