An ultimatum to cut off funds was what finally prompted action against illegal promotions in the National Education Foundation (NEF).
Professional & Technical Training Minister Mian Riaz Hussain Pirzada took action after Planning Commission (PC) Member Infrastructure Ghulam Mohyuddin Marri wrote a letter on May 14 asking him to take action or risk suspension of funds to the project.
Marri also threatened to resign from the NEF board of governors (BoG) if the ministry remained silent over irregularities and illegal promotions in the NEF-run Basic Education Community Schools (BECS) project, which is funded by the PC.
The minister called an emergency meeting with senior NEF officials, after which a probe committee headed by Ghulam Mohyuddin Marri was constituted.
A statement issued by the ministry stated that the minister met with Naser Hayat, a joint secretary who also has the additional charge of NEF managing director. The statement took strong notice of illegal promotions of NEF officers and suggests they were clandestinely manoeuvred by outgoing BECS Project Director Brigadier Sirajuddin by using backdating.
The minister and senior ministry officials had been aware of these illegal promotions and other irregularities for a while, but no action was taken until PC member’s letter arrived, said an official source. Brig Siraj himself was recently expelled from the NEF after a similar letter was written by Marri.
NEF project officers cannot be promoted under laws governing project employees, yet six were promoted from grade 17 to 18 and on to grade 19 within one month, violating all the audit objections of the committee. The matter was kept secret by the outgoing NEF Director until those officers managed to get a stay order from the Islamabad High Court.
The letter, a copy of which is available with The Express Tribune, stated, “It is very unfortunate that important matters and issues were placed before the management of the BECS project, but did not carry any weight in the concerned ministry; resultantly, the organisation is going from bad to worse day-by-day.”
Marri pointed out that illegal promotions were made without legal authority, but neither the PC nor the government have received any response to related queries. The administration has taken no action on any point with respect to the illegal promotions, he said in the letter.
He also enclosed order letters of the illegal promotions through which Saadia Ghuman and Abdul Hanan were promoted from BS-17 to BS-19 in under a month. Similarly, Kashif Sohail, Noreen Raza, Samara Saman Kayani and Imranullah Haq were promoted from BS-17 to 18 as deputy directors. The letter says that all these promotions were made without approvals from the competent authorities.
Marri stated, “I always tried my level best to streamline the BECS management and make BECS and NEF reputed organisations, but it could not be achieved due to non-cooperation of the concerned ministry.”
He recommended that those employees who made the NEF a “useless institution” should be terminated, made to pay back all salaries and allowances, and sent behind bars.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 19th, 2012.
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the project was initially run by one provincial project coordinator assisted with one deputy director, one assistant director and 8 assistant field officers under the umbrella of prime minister literacy program. As soon as project merged with NEF, A tsunami of staff were launched even at district level. This lethargic team headed by ex-MD and Ex-Project Director introduce new policies that were not matched with the spirit of the project. Project need to spell out freshly and active involvement of local communities to make a success to this unique project.