The Pakistan National Council of the Arts (PNCA) and Lok Virsa are allegedly involved in administrative malfunctioning.
Defying all rules and even a Supreme Court warning that granting extensions or re-appointing officials would be punishable, the PNCA director general Tauqir Nasir and Lok Virsa executive director Khalid Javed have been granted extensions following their retirement on a contract basis without any prior approval of the Ministry of National Heritage and Integration or any other department concerned. Pakistan Today collected official documents from both offices and found a number of similarities regarding administrative irregularities in both the cultural organisations.
The chiefs of both organizations were granted a two-year extension at the end of 2011 and both have re-hired retired personnel in their offices without prior permissions. The employees of both the organisations retire at the government appointed age of 60, but make efforts for their re-appointment. It is speculated Nasir was granted an extension as he belonged to southern Punjab-Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani’s native area. Hassan Abbas Raza, who has been working as a performing arts division director and receives Rs 60,000 in monthly salary, retired on November 18, 2011 but the PNCA DG moved a summary for his extension to the Ministry of National Heritage and Integration secretary. Similarly, in Lok Virsa, administration and accounts director Shamim Akhtar’s service tenure expired in December 2011 but he continues to hold the post after being re-appointed by Khalid Javed. Several PNCA deputy directors and directors’ posts are vacant but the administration has failed to advertise for them. Meanwhile, the re-appointment of retired officers has been the norm for several years.
According to sources many PNCA employees have been reappointed, including Major (retd) Owais as a project officer, Agha Sehar Tanvir as Light and Sound incharge, Zarqa Chaudhary as a dance teacher for National Performing Arts Group (NPGA) and Muhammad Shahid as a transport officer. The Lok Virsa retired officials include Saeed A Khan who has been reappointed against the regular post of director development sales in (BPS-19), Salik Mehmood reappointed as project accountant, Zobia Sultana as deputy director, Naseemullah Rashid as media centre director and Azeem Iqbal as museum designer. The PNCA and Lok Virsa staff said favouritism was a norm since senior officials like PNCA research officer Amber Shah and Lok Virsa programme executive (publications) Muhammad Ali have not been promoted despite being due for promotions.
PNCA junior photographer Ishtiaq Hussain, acting publication officer Anjum Sajjad Gohar, publication officer/ designer Sobia Rehman, and publication officer/designer Tanveer Akhtar filed a joint petition in Islamabad High Court (IHC) against the out-of-turn promotions of two females from their basic pay scale (BPS) 16 to BPS-17, on March 14, 2011. Talking to Pakistan Today, Khalid Javed while talking about the illegal extension of Shamim Akhtar, said the National Heritage and Integration secretary gave directions for the reappointment. When asked about Zobia Sultana, who was transferred to Pakistan Academy of Letters (PAL), and is now getting salary from the both offices, Javed admitted she has been transferred to PAL but was also working for an ongoing PNCA research project. “This is the government’s decision,” he said.
He said the employees were re-hired because of their expertise on an assignment basis. “We gave them assignments in their respective fields, and they are being paid for it,” Javed said.
PNCA Director General Tauqir Nasir when contacted about his statement on the matter, he did not receive the call.
When asked why PNCA does not advertise for the vacant posts, Hassan Abbas Raza said the government has put a complete ban on new hiring and recruitment. “Yes, there are a lot of vacant posts these days, and as soon as ban on recruitment is lifted, new recruitments will be made,” he said.
