Headless chickens: Many govt departments running without secretaries

Additional charges given to other administrative heads, increasing their burden.

PESHAWAR:

Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa departments dealing with matters essential to the running of the province are without administrative secretaries, creating stumbling blocks for the government machinery. 

Insiders say the departments of Elementary and Secondary Education, Higher Education, Excise and Taxation, Narcotics, Establishment and Science and Technology and Information Technology (ST&IT) are run by secretaries of other departments. This is an additional charge on their routine workload for their respective departments.

Anywhere but here

The Establishment department, responsible for transfers and postings, is in the hands of an acting secretary. It has been forced to hand over these additional charges to other secretaries due to the absence of administrative heads who are on leave.

An official seeking anonymity said Mines and Minerals Secretary Attaur Rehman had been given the additional charge of the Higher Education department as its own secretary Muhammad Ali Shahzada is on official leave.

Similarly, Energy and Power Secretary Ali Raza Bhutta has the additional charge of the Elementary and Secondary Education department as Afzal Latif is on official leave. The Establishment department itself is being run by Hassan Mehmood Yousufzai of the Administration department as Dr Akhtar Nazeer is also on official leave.



Excise and Taxation Department secretary Israr Khan is still on leave for Hajj and Information Secretary Abid Majeed is looking after matters—again as an additional charge.

Left with little choice

Secretary Planning and Development Syed Zafar Ali Shah holds the additional charge of Science and Technology and Information Technology (ST&IT) as the latter’s head of department, Farah Hamid Khan, is on leave. The official says most of  these secretaries took leave to go to Lahore to attend the National Management Course (NMC) which is mandatory for their careers.

“The K-P government has 32 administrative departments and lacks eligible officers to take charge as a secretary when somebody goes on leave,” he points out. The official maintains certain departments were created unnecessarily as they do not deal with core matters and can easily be merged with another.

He cited the example of the Excise and Taxation department which was under the finance department and working well. “All the officers given additional charges are competent, but the departments, as they stand separated, should have proper secretaries. Handing out additional charges is not the solution,” stresses the official.

“It gives all powers to the acting secretary, but very few people take decisive steps in departments they run as an additional charge.”

The workload

One of the secretaries given the additional charge of another department says, “I am not overburdened, but that may not be the case with everyone.” Some of them are running departments which have a heavy workload and the additional charges have added to their burden, he says, requesting anonymity.

He adds the Establishment department can best answer questions dealing with this subject. “As for my part, I am running my own department and the additional one with full attention and interest,” the official assures. He says his own department has a relatively lighter workload than some others.

Establishment Acting Secretary Hassan Mehmood Yousufzai has not been available for comments despite repeated visits to his office. Meanwhile, Establishment Section Officer Mohammad Javed Siddiqui, refuses to comment on the subject, “I need the secretary’s orders to share any information on the matter,” he says. He admits there is a shortage of Grade-20 officers.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 20^th, 2015.