Out-of-turn promotion: Technical board wants its examination controller removed

Board secretary confirms ‘facts’ submitted to the governor secretariat.

KARACHI: The Sindh Board of Technical Education (SBTE) has testified against its examinations controller in yet another out-of-turn promotions case, suggesting that the appointment should be revoked as per the orders of the Supreme Court, The Express Tribune learnt on Thursday.

In reply to a letter by the Sindh governor secretariat, dated August 21, inquiring about the case of SBTE exams controller, Qazi Arif Ali, the technical education board’s secretary, Waheed Ahmed Shaikh had submitted that, “He [Qazi Arif Ali] may be reverted back to his parent department to avoid any litigation.”



When contacted about the SBTE’s letter - a copy of which is available with The Express Tribune, Shaikh refused to comment. He confirmed, however, that the technical education board, in consultation with the chairperson, Saeed Ahmed Siddiqui, had submitted ‘facts of the case’ to the governor secretariat.

Shaikh’s letter to the governor’s principal secretary explains that he had received an application of complaint through the governor’s secretariat, which had initiated an inquiry on the matter and asked the board to submit facts.

The application was submitted by the board’s registrar, Abishar Hussain, who had requested to cancel the out-of-turn promotion of Ali and to revert him back to BS-18 as deputy director in pursuance of the Supreme Court’s order to verify all promotions in Sindh which were not on merit.

Shaikh, in his reply, confirmed that Ali’s case was challengeable on the grounds that his initial appointment in the year 2000 as secretary of the technical education board - a BS-19 post - was made without following the rules and regulations. “The audit conducted by the provincial audit office’s director-general declared his appointment in BS-19 as secretary illegal,” said Shaikh in the reply. “This para is included in the auditor general’s report for the year 2003-04 and has yet to be settled by the Public Accounts Committee.” Ali’s post was later changed to examination controller.

Shaikh also stated that Ali was drawing the salary of an officer in grade BS-20 which was done bypassing many other officers who were senior to him in service and had relevant qualification.

The letter further stated that Ali passed his Matriculation in Arts with grade ‘C’ and then did his Intermediate in Science. “Such a change of group from arts to science is never allowed by any educational board, which is questionable and needs to be investigated.”

Prior to his appointment as a subject specialist in BS-18 at SBTE in 1997, Ali was working as a college lecturer of Islamic History. He was later re-designated as deputy-director at the Centre for Curriculum Research and Development (CCRD).

Ali, on the other hand, expressed no knowledge of the matter. “If such actions have been taken, I declare them as an injustice. These allegations were earlier investigated and I was absolved and reinstated at the behest of Sindh governor.”

Published in The Express Tribune, September 6^th, 2013.