The Capital Administration and Development Division (CADD) has once again adopted the policy of adhocism as Private Educational Institutions Regulatory Authority (PEIRA) Chairman Hasnat Qureshi has been given the additional charge of director general of Federal Directorate of Education (FDE).
The post of FDE DG was lying vacant since December 10 after the retirement of Dr Shahnaz Riaz. The CADD Ministry instead of filling this top vacancy on permanent basis has opted to task its senior officials after one another to act as a stand-in for permanent FDE DG even despite having clear directives by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in this regard.
According to a notification, a copy of which is available with Pakistan Today, Hasnat Qureshi will hold additional charge as FDE Director General in addition to his own duties with immediate effect for a period of three months or till availability of regular incumbent of the post.”
A senior official said that affairs at FDE were in total disarray due to the long delay in the filling of the top position on permanent basis by the CADD. He said that despite the authorities’ tall claims of enhancing the educational standards in the capital by utilizing billions of rupees under the much-trumpeted Prime Minister Education Reforms Programme, hardly any improvement could be seen in education sector due to political wrangling in the department.
He said that the government was in no mood to appoint a permanent DG though there were several BPS-19 officials who could be promoted to the post and quickly added that there were three contenders namely Tanweer Ahmad, Taj Muhammad Bhatti and Zulfiqar Ali Rao, serving in the FDE and anyone of them could be promoted to the post.
He said that since CADD Minister Dr Tariq Fazal Chaudhry was interested to appoint a blue-eyed person for the post to ensure speedy implementation of the PM’s Education Reforms Programme in the federal capital.
“Since, he was not in favour to appoint any of the existing three candidates vying for the post, so he finds a good excuse to appoint a temporary posting due to their battle of seniority, as one of the three in-house candidates has moved the court, seeking a promotion to the post, he maintained.
CADD Joint Secretary Ayesha Farooq was temporarily given the charge of DG due to their clash of seniority but recently she has been repatriated to her parent department the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) on a directive by the Prime Minister’s office, who was serving on deputation in the CADD.
According to the civil servants’ appointments rules 1973, selection for the slot of the DG was meant to be only through promotion. It adds that directors at BPS-19 posts and principals of a degree college in the same grade with 17 years of teaching experience were eligible for the post.
Around 482 education institutions, including schools and colleges, were directly working under the FDE, but there was nobody available to hear the issues of 16,500 employees and around 2,00,000 students due to government negligence, he added.
Talking to Pakistan Today, CADD spokesperson Attiqur Rehman said that Hasnat Qureshi has been appointed on the post for three months so as to clear the issues pending in the FDE due to the non-availability of DG. He said that the ministry was looking for an appropriate and suitable candidate for the slot having administrative expertise as well as adequate knowledge of educational affairs.
To a question, the spokesperson said that a permanent appointment could not be made because of a clash of seniority claim among three contenders Tanweer Ahmad, Taj Muhammad Bhatti and Zulfiqar Ali Rao.