'SOS' to Prime Minister: 'EDB should be placed under Planning Commission control'

The Engineering Development Board (EDB) seems to be heading nowhere as it has failed to strengthen the engineering industry because of politically motivated appointments by the Ministry of Industries, Production.
Serious questions have been raised over the new role of the EDB by a sector of the industry in a letter written to the Prime Minister.It has demanded in the letter that the EDB should be given under Planning Commission (PC) control.
This scribe has also learned that there was no full time Chief Executive Office (CEO) in the EDB since last October when Imtiaz Rastgar, former CEO, was removed after his appointment was challenged in the court.
The Ministry of Industries appointed Amas Haider, the owner of Spell Group of Companies, as Acting CEO, EDB till further orders on October 2007 and constituted a committee to identify a full time CEO. The appointment of Acting CEO was also described by some officials a violation of recruitment rules, which require a mandatory approval of the Prime Minister.
When contacted, an official in Finance Division, who requested not to be quoted, said the Ministry being in-charge of administrative decisions could appoint an acting CEO, but only for a period of six months. He had no plausible answer to question whether the Ministries could take decisions to appoint heads of their subordinate department on their own. The present CEO, EDB, is in the chair for over eight months.
The letter written to the Prime Minister has pointed out that the EDB was established under the banner of Planning Commission to boost industrial sector. Its role was admirable as long as it remained under the PC control, but its performance declined after it was given under the Ministry of Industry control.
The reasons of its decline given in the letter were "politically influenced, nepotism-based appointments in the EDB" described as "incompetent, biased and politically motivated personnel" who started eroding the entity and with the passage of time, its performance declined drastically becoming almost stagnant in the last five to six years.
"As a result, the whole industry was badly affected but auto vendor industry suffered the most, and was almost on the verge of a closure. This is also clear from the fact that during the 2006-07 the auto related imports increased substantially, hurting vendor industry," the letter continued, requesting that EDB may kindly be brought under Planning Commission control to make it a think-tank organisation for the promotion of engineering industry.