Chaudhry was given charge of joint secretary education last year but within days, the decision was reverted. PHOTO: FILE
The Capital Administration and Development Division (CADD) seems to have taken a nonchalant approach to filling key positions at its subsidiary education bodies, marring their overall administrative and management functions.
Recently, a parliamentary panel on the cabinet division had also asked CADD to fill positions which have been lying vacant for long and are being run by officials on additional charge basis.
CADD, which runs the affairs of Islamabad-based bodies that were under Federal ministries dissolved after the 18th Amendment passed, seems to have been lackadaisical in moving summaries to fill the vacant positions at various education bodies with permanent heads. Only one or two summaries, which, according to an official have been sent to the Establishment Division, were still pending approval.
The endless squabbling among education officers is another issue and has brought the day-to-day functioning of the education department to a standstill.
Recently, the CADD secretary had to relieve Additional Secretary (AS) Qaiser Majeed of his services, asking him to report to the Establishment Division. When he asked the reasons for his removal, CADD sent a list of allegations against him. After Majeed’s removal, Senior Joint Secretary (SJC) Muhammad Asghar Chaudhry was given additional charge of AS.
Interestingly, Chaudhry was given charge of joint secretary education last year but within days, the decision was reverted due to ‘pressure’ from another officer.
CADD, through the Federal Directorate of Education (FDE), also looks after 424 educational institutions in the Islamabad Capital Territory, but the post of FDE director-general (DG) has been vacant since former DG Shahnaz Riaz was removed a few months back.
Another four key positions in CADD’s subsidiary bodies have no permanent heads and are being run by officials with additional charge — the National Training Directorate, the National Institute of Science and Technology Education (NISTE), and the Private Educational Institutes Regulatory Authority.
CADD’s Joint Secretary Education Rafique Tahir said that the situation was not as bad as it looks, because, according to him, every department has to undergo such a process.
“We are still looking to appoint people on merit, while the summary for the FDE’s director general is pending with prime minister,” he said, adding that all other vacant positions will be filled soon. He dispelled the impression that the work of the five bodies lacking permanent heads was compromised.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 12th, 2014.
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