Controversial reappointment: Federal exam board boss back, for now

Two-judge bench stays single bench order till April.

ISLAMABAD: The chairperson of the country’s top examination body got some respite on Monday after a two-judge bench of the Islamabad High Court (IHC) suspended a single bench decision declaring her appointment illegal. On an intra court appeal filed by Federal Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education (FBISE) Chairperson Shaheen Khan, the two-judge division bench comprising Justice Riaz Ahmad Khan and Justice Muhammad Azim Khan Afridi stayed implementation of the single bench decision till first week of April and adjourned the case.

Justice Anwar Khan Kasi of the IHC had declared Shaheen Khan’s reappointment as illegal and void on February 29 on a petition filed by Nazeer Aslam, a former controller of examination of the board. In his plea the petitioner had made secretary establishment, principal secretary to the prime minister, secretary Capital Administration and Development Division (CADD), secretary, ministry of professional and technical training, the Higher Education Commission (HEC) chairman and Shaheen Khan as respondents.

Justice Kasi observed that the competent authorities did not follow rules while appointing Ms Khan on deputation and then extending her tenure for another couple of years.

In her intra-court appeal, Shaheen Khan maintained that her reappointment as FBISE chairperson was duly approved by the competent authority with the consent of her parent organization, the HEC.

She adopted that the petitioner has filed the plea against her out of personal grudges and with some “vested interests” as he was posted from the examination department to “one window operation” department.

On the contention that the FBISE chief should be of BPS-22, while Khan is a grade-20 officer, she said the contentions of the petitioner were misconceived adding that appointing a grade-22 officer as FBISE chairperson is still under-consideration and not a rule as yet.

The petitioner contended that before assuming charge as FBISE chairperson on September 18, 2008, Khan was serving as Director General (Sports), a grade-20 post, at the HEC. The petition said that the FBISE chairperson post was upgraded from BPS-20 to BPS-22 by the board of governors on March 11, 2010, and that Khan is therefore unqualified to hold the post.

The petitioner also alleged that before joining the FBISE, Khan was facing charges of corruption in her parent department and was facing plagiarism proceedings relating to her PhD degree.

Khan was also accused of illegally allocating funds for the Federal Employees Cooperative Housing Society scheme in for purchase of 425 plots in Jinnah Garden Phase-1, in Zone-V at very exorbitant price of Rs400 million out of public funds for distribution among the employees on ownership basis. The petitioner said that the Supreme Court had declared it illegal.

He also alleged that the respondent had deposited another Rs400 million in the Bank of Punjab without the approval of federal government.

 

Published in The Express Tribune, March 6^th, 2012.