No staff: PFA establishment in Faisalabad likely to be delayed

The authority has been struggling to extend its control to Faisalabad since 2013.

LAHORE:

The extension of the jurisdiction of the Punjab Food Authority to Faisalabad is likely to be delayed.

The authority was allowed by its board on Tuesday to hire staff up to BS-15 during a meeting. However, permission for hiring field staff was withheld.

The authority has been struggling to expand its control to Faisalabad since 2013.

In November, the PFA was looking to hire staff for Faisalabad.

The provincial government had also granted the PFA permission to expand its operations to Multan, Rawalpindi and Gujranwala.

The authority shortlisted 27 officers for BS-16, including 18 assistant food safety officers and nine food safety officers through newspaper advertisements.

Two weeks later, however, the government formed a committee to hire staff which, after two meetings, referred the matter the board of the PFA in March.

Punjab Food Authority director general said the board had allowed hiring of staff up to BS-15 for all four districts.

He said permission to hire field staff was yet to be granted.

He said he could not set a date for the extension of the authority’s operations to Faisalabad.

He said the shortlisted candidates would be considered unless the board ordered hiring through the Punjab Public Service Commission.

Section 14 and Section 12 of the Punjab Food Authority Act 2011 permits the authority to hire staff.

Section 12 of the Act reads “The food authority may, by notification, appoint food safety officers for such areas as it may assign to them.”

Punjab Food Authority Chairman Justice (r) Amir Raza Khan who chaired board the meeting said the authority was allowed to hire staff. He also said the recruitment process was yet to properly defined

Published in The Express Tribune, May 18^th, 2014.