The Higher Education Commission (HEC) on Thursday vowed to resist appointment of Qamar Zaman Chaudhry as Executive Director (ED), saying the establishment division has no authority to issue notification of a bureaucrat to fill the top slot as it is an autonomous organisation.
Official sources from HEC told Business Recorder, "The appointment of an Executive Director of HEC is not the domain of the Establishment Division as according to the Act of HEC, 'the Commission shall appoint an Executive Director in the manner prescribed who shall unless earlier removed on any of the grounds specified in sub-section (6) of section 6, hold office for four years and shall be responsible for the various activities of the Commission'."
Sources said that only the 17-member Commission of HEC that is nominated by the Prime Minister can appoint MP scale officials. Sources said, "The Chairman, HEC, Javaid Laghari received a notification on November 29 from the Establishment Division stating, "Major Qamar Zaman (Retd), a BS-22 officer of Secretariat Group, previously posted as Secretary, Education and Trainings Division is allowed to hold additional charge of the post of Executive Director, Higher Education Commission, with immediate effect and until further orders."
Earlier, Dr Sohail Naqvi was appointed as Executive Director of HEC by the Commission but after receiving the notification, the 17 member Commission of HEC will decide the fate of Dr Sohail Naqvi and Qamar Zaman after the Chairman meets the Prime Minister, sources added.
"The Chairman HEC along with the 17-member commission is likely to visit the Prime Minister on November 30 (today) to discuss the issues like new appointments of senior officers of HEC, the commission's financial matters, and the review of its overall performance but this meeting has now been postponed", sources said. On October 24th the HEC Chairman received a letter from the Establishment Division. In this letter the Establishment Division declared all appointment on MP Scales by the Commission as "illegal." It was also noted that, "the appointing authority in case of MP scales will be the Prime Minister, sources added.
The letter received from the Establishment Division was placed in a special meeting of the Commission that concluded: (i) The Commission is fully empowered under the HEC Act to appoint officers, servants and advisors in the HEC; (ii) The Commission is also empowered "to make rules for recruitment of its employees"; (iii) All appointments to the HEC, including those on MP Scales, are made by the Commission since its inception and notified to all offices of the Government; (iv) The Commission noted with concern that the Establishment Division has deemed it fit to declare the actions of the Commission as "illegal." The Commission does not find this declaration to be acceptable as the Commission has, at all times acted within the ambit of the HEC Act. The Commission is of the view that all appointments to the HEC are within the domain of the HEC as an autonomous body.
"It is clear that the Commission has final jurisdiction on the matter of appointment of officers of the HEC on MP Scales and the Establishment Division has challenged the autonomy of the Commission by issuing the notification related to the appointment of Qamar Zaman while replacing Dr Sohail Naqvi who was appointed by the Commission", sources added.
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