—Director media says senior posts advertised repeatedly but suitable officers not available
ISLAMABAD: The key positions in the Higher Education Commission (HEC) are currently occupied by blue-eyed officials who are either on deputation or are retired and the excuse thatthe commission gave is that the positions are advertised in media regularly but no suitable candidates are available.
HEC is the only higher education regulatory body with a budget of more than Rs 90 million. It also has complete control over the affairs of around 187 public sector universities. However, it is quite surprising that the commission which is supposed to manage the affairs of the universities is unable to fix its own affairs.
Despite the fact that the Supreme Court (SC) has issued clear directives about sending the officials working on deputation basis back to their parent organisations, most of the officials who have been hired on deputation in the commission by the recently retired chairman Ahmed Mukhtar, are still holding their positions.
According to details, HRD Member Dr Ghulam Raza Bhatti (BPS 22) from Shah Abdul Latif University Khairpur, Advisor Quality Assurance Dr Riaz Ahmed (BPS 21) from Arid Agriculture University Rawalpindi, Director Academics Dr Muhammad Idrees (BPS 19) from HED Punjab Government, Director Academics Dr Ishrat Siddiqa (BPS 19) from Fatima Jinnah Women University Rawalpindi and M&E Director Syed Naveed Shah (BPS 19) from Overseas Pakistani Foundation who was hired in HEC illegally, Deputy Director Academics Bushra Ghaus (BPS 18) from Fatima Jinnah Women University Rawalpindi and Law Officer Syed Amir Gilani (BPS 18) from PHA are among those high officials who are working at the HEC on deputation.
Sources said that since HEC looks after the affairs of public sector universities, there could be a conflict of interest on behalf of the officials because they could favour their respective organisations. Sources also said that the presence of deputationists is a constant source of nuisance for the regular employees because not only does it cause delays in their promotions but they also have to do more work because the deputationists often enjoy the perks and benefits.
Sources further said that in violation of SC’s orders and the recruitment rules of the commissions, the contracts of the retired officials were extended and they continue to hold top positions in key departments such as audit and quality assurance where they run the day to day affairs of the commission.
Muhammad Ismail is a retired government official who is currently working as a consultant at the quality assurance division of the commission and deals with the day to day affairs of his division, Dr Mehmoodul Hasan Butt is working in the office of the HEC chairman and Muhammad Asghar is working on CPEC related tasks.
Sources said that several retired officials are still working on regular assignments in the HEC such as Liquat Ali who retired as director audit three years ago but is still working as the head of the audit division to deal with the matters of more than Rs 90 billion which is the annual budget of HEC. R Z Dar retired as the senior personal staff officer around three ago but he is still working with the HEC chairman as the head of chairman secretariat while Shahid Khalid who retired as the law officer is still dealing with important matters of the law department of HEC, they added.
Sources further said that some of the key departments /divisions are being headed by directors instead of the director general. The human resource management (HRM) department which deals with key appointments, the audit department which deals with financial matters of more than Rs90 billion, the information technology department which deals with Rs20 billion rupees are among those departments.
In addition to that, Dr Mohammad Latif who was hired as the advisor quality assurance is working as the advisor research and development and Tahir Zaidi who was hired as the director general learning innovation is now working as the director general attestation and accreditation with no relevant experience related to the division.
HEC Director Media Aayesha Ikram told Pakistan Today that HEC followed the federal government’s policy on deputation.
Responding to a question regarding the recruitment of professionals through an open and competitive process, she said that HEC has advertised senior posts repeatedly but suitable officers were not available.
Speaking about the extension of contracts of retired government officials, she said that there are no retired persons heading any divisions in the commission.
Responding to another query regarding disenchantment among HEC officials, she said that there is no such disenchantment as the deputationists have not infringed anyone’s rights nor are there any perks and privileges for them to enjoy.
About SC’s directives, she said that HEC followed the directions of SC in letter and spirit.