Tevta chairman slot: Bureaucrat, general and businessman eyed

Post vacant since incumbent’s transfer to federal government.

LAHORE:

The provincial government is considering the names of a former general, a former bureaucrat and a businessman for the chairmanship of the Technical Education and Vocational Training Authority (Tevta), The Express Tribune has learnt.

The office went vacant when the incumbent, Saeed Alvi, a senior district management group (DMG) officer, was transferred to the federal government.

The three contenders are: Sibtain Fazal Haleem, a former federal secretary; Lt General (retd) Ziaul Din Khawaja, former; and Haroon Khawaja, a businessman and chairperson of CM’s task force on special initiatives. Before his assignment in the Economic Affairs Division, Haleem had served as administrative secretary of several provincial government departments during the chief ministership of Chaudhary Pervaiz Elahi.

Haleem is credited with coming up with the proposal for constructing a series of underpasses along the Canal Road during his posting at the Communication and Works Department. Other projects that he undertook during his career included the construction of Chief Minister’s Secretariat at 8-Club in Government Officers Residence-I in 2006. The building spread over an area of 10 kanals was built at a cost of Rs900 million.

At Education Department, Haleem’s decision to sack 1000 ad-hoc lecturers caused controversy. It was later set aside by court and the lecturers were re-instated.

Haleem was not available for his comments.

General (retd) Ziaul Din in February 2011 resigned from the chairmanship of Chief Minister’s Inspection Team following Supreme Court of Pakistan’s ruling against the re-employment of retired government officers. General (retd) Ahmed’s career with the Armed Forces ended with General Pervaiz Musharraf’s coup in 1999. Ziauddin, who had been controversially appointed COAS by then prime minister Nawaz Sharif, was arrested for accepting the elevation.

Ahmed had served in the Corps of Engineers.

Some Tevta officials believed Ziauddin is most likely to be appointed as chairman of the authority. Ziauddin, however, said he had not been contacted by the government and that he would take a decision only when he was approached by someone in this regard.

Haroon Khawaja, the third contender, also expressed ignorance about the issue. He, however, said that if the government considered him appropriate for the job, he would be willing to take it.

Khawaja has served on the Tevta board of directors and is credited with some of the recent initiatives undertaken by the authority including the setting up of Punjab Industrial Estate and Punjab Agriculture Marketing Company.

The TEVTA was formed under an ordinance in 1999 to impart technical skills through various technical education and vocational training programmes. It is currently operating 483 vocational and commercial education institutions across the province.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 17^th, 2011.