Senators term NTS 'outright corrupt' organisation

Declaring National Testing Service an 'outright corrupt' organisation, the lawmakers in the Senate Monday demanded to shut it down or make legislation to ensure transparency and merit, which the NTS has failed to ensure in recruitment of candidates. Speaking on a motion moved by Daud Khan Achakzai of Awami National Party (ANP) to discuss the situation arising out of tests undertaken by the NTS for recruitment in different departments and agencies, the lawmakers said the merit was not ensured and, instead, questions papers were leaked.
"The NTS is working without any legislation. No record of tests is available with it. Those conducting tests are hardly graduates; the fee is exorbitant; there is no criterion for short-listing of candidates; and it has become a lucrative business, which is completely ignorant of the word merit," said Daud Achakzai, the mover of the motion. The fellow senators belonging to different political parties endorsed the lawmakers who also demanded the NTS should be shut down and tests should be undertaken by the concerned departments or institutions like public service commission as giving the gigantic task of selection to a corrupt institution is murder of merit.
Senator Azam Khan Swati of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), who had also served as a minister for science and technology and looked after the affairs of NTS, fully endorsed the remarks of Daud, and said that institution is being run by a man whose PhD degree was cancelled after he was found involved in plagiarism.
"Dr Haroon, who is the Chairman of NTS, was kicked out after he was found involved in plagiarism for his PhD thesis, so expecting a man who is known for plagiarism and fraudulent activates to ensure merit is like asking the cat to protect the cream," he lamented.
He also said that he had documentary evidence in which the NTS leaked the test papers after receiving money from candidates, which deprived the qualified candidates, who come from poor background, of their right. Senator Attaur Rehman of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) also stood by the fellow senators and said, "The NTS is a complete fraud, which is being run by some retired bureaucrats to make fortune through corruption and murder of merit."
Another Senator Usman Khan Kakar of Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party (PkMAP) also claimed that the NTS is openly involved in leaking question papers, which is mainly due to its chairman who has no credibility and has been blacklisted for plagiarism. Senators Ilyas Bilour, Sardar Azam Khan Musakhel and Humayun Khan Mandokhel also demanded that the organisation must be made accountable as it is not being properly audited and is also reluctant to provide the details of tests in case of controversy, which reflects it has no authenticity.
Interestingly, while winding the debate, Minister for States and Frontier Regions (SAFRON) General Abdul Qadir Baloch (Retd) also failed to defend the NTS, and fully endorsed to make efforts for streamlining the organisation. "No proper legislation was made for creation of NTS, and it was created through a policy of Establishment Division to ensure merit...the recruitment against different positions was outsourced to NTS, so that merit could be upheld, and if there is a need to make legislation, we're ready for it," he added.
Meanwhile, speaking on a motion moved by Senator Syed Shibli Faraz Khan of the PTI about the poor planning and performance of the Capital Development Authority (CDA), the lawmakers said that the civic body should undergo a complete overhaul. They said that rampant corruption and lack of appointments in the civic body have spoiled the beauty of the federal capital, adding the CDA was supposed to protect the master plan of the city and stop encroachments.
Shibli said that encroachments have defaced Islamabad, adding proper attention should be paid to make sure that the CDA must come up to the expectation for which it was created. Responding to the motion, State Minister for Capital Administration and Development Division Dr Tariq Fazal Chaudhary said that the government is making hectic efforts to streamline the civic body, adding after local government elections in the capital, 22 departments of the CDA have been transferred to Metropolitan Corporation Islamabad (MCI).
He said that nonconforming use of residential buildings has been stopped on the special orders of the Supreme Court, which has helped bringing down the exorbitant rents in the capital. However, the minister said that the government could not move the educational institutions set up in the residential areas of the capital to commercial areas for at least two to three years despite apex court's orders, saying about 70,000 students are studying there.