HED violates merit – Deputy Director Colleges appointment stirs resentment

LAHORE – Punjab Higher Education Secretary Haseeb Ather has violated the rules of the department in appointing a former federal secretary’s son Ahsan Mumtaz as Deputy Director Colleges Lahore, Pakistan Today learnt on Wednesday.
Educationists have shown concern over the appointment made against Basic Pay Scale 18.
Unrest in the HED: HED sources claim the HED Secretary’s violation of merit came as a surprise to department but they were helpless given that the HED Secretary was a close associate of a PML-N senior leader.
The contested post was vacated two months ago when former Deputy Director Colleges Lahore Saeed Saghou was appointed Director Planning DPI.
Sources confirmed the vacated post was for a BPS 18 scale officer. Ahsan Mumtaz, a BPS 17 Section Officer, was ineligible to apply for the post according to criteria. The sources claimed a number of BPS 18 officials were present and the Punjab Chief Minister (CM) should take notice of this violation of merit. In presence of qualified individuals, a tense situation has emerged in the HED, with the entire department showing reservations against the violation of rules made in the appointment.
An HED source, asking not to be named, raised questions to Pakistan Today over Ahsan’s move into the education department. “Ahsan used to be an English lectuer in Shiekhupura College. He was directly appointed section officer and now upgraded as Deputy Director. This is typical of bureaucratic corruption,” he said.
Professors oppose: Speaking to Pakistan Today on anonymity, a college professor said, “Faculty at city colleges is annoyed and will write to the Punjab CM about their displeasure at the appointment.”
“A number of college professors were eligible for the post but the HED secretary overlooked them,” he said. Further he complained that the HED secretary was not capable of dealing with issues pertaining to the welfare of colleges and had let a number of issues linger. “Such a blunder was unseen in the previous tenure,” he said.
A Directorate of Public Instructions (DPI) colleges senior official said that the office of the DPI was also surprise at the appointment made by the HED secretary but found itself helpless like everyone else.
The DPI source raised his concerns over the HED secretary’s tenure claiming that his weakness after the student-police clashes at the Punjab Assembly showed his lack of roots in the education community. Secretary HED Ahad Khan did not attend his cell on repeated request.