Ministry of Industries and Production (MoI&P) is likely to approach Prime Minister, seeking waiver from prescribed recruitment rules to appoint Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Engineering Development Board (EDB), well-informed sources told Business Recorder.
On July 18, 2019, Prime Minister''s Advisor on Commerce, Textile, Industries and Production and Investment, Abdul Razak Dawood stated that new Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Engineering Development Board (EDB) will be appointed within one month. The EDB, which remained under fire due to rampant corruption - is without a permanent CEO for the last couple of years. The incumbent CEO EDB is sitting on the post as a stop gap arrangement. The Cabinet has directed the Establishment Division to submit a consolidated report on the institutions where heads of departments/ organisations and other vacancies were filled on stop gap/ part time/ additional charge basis.
The federal cabinet on July 16, 2019 expressed its displeasure on the continuous practice of assigning additional charge of positions of heads of departments, despite clear instructions issued earlier and directed Ministries/ Divisions to appoint fulltime heads of department/ organisations and other vacant positions, within a period of three months without fail, after fulfillment of required formalities. In the event of non-compliance, Minister and Secretary of the concerned Ministry/ Division will be held responsible.
Insiders in the Ministry claim that some "sitting interested" parties are instrumental in blocking approvals in the Establishment Division. On July 9, 2019, during a federal cabinet meeting, emphasis was laid upon hiring people with diversified experience, processing sufficient expertise in the relevant field. This could only be done if the staffing expertise was carried out through a process which lowers the entry barriers for individuals from the open market. The cabinet was, however, dismayed at the quality of recruitment advertisements which appeared to benefit those who have already been in the public sector for long.
The Cabinet directed Establishment Division to issue necessary instructions to all Ministries/ Divisions expressly directing them to advertise assignments, without any special preference to any class of candidates/ officers, allowing equal opportunities to all the eligible candidates. According to the EDB, the second meeting of the Board or Management of EDB Board was held on March 13, 2019. While considering the proposal "organizational structure" members stressed upon the need for immediate filling of the post of Chief Executive Officer of the organisation.
The case of appointment of CEO through an advertisement was processed through the Ministry of Industries and Production on March 25 2019. The Establishment Division returned the case initially on April 9, 2019 and later on April 26, 2019, referring to one of the clauses of the Prime Minister''s approved recruitment policy notified in 2014 which is as follows: (i) initial appointment shall be made strictly in accordance with the provisions contained in the recruitment rules of the post concerned.
In the absence of recruitment rules, Ministries/ Divisions,/ attached departments/ sub-ordinate offices/ autonomous/ semi autonomous bodies/ Corporations/ Companies/ Authorities etc are first required to frame the recruitment rule and lay down the eligibility conditions for such appointments. No recruitment shall be made in the absence of approved recruitment rule; and (ii) therefore, claiming any exemption/ waiver from the prescribed clause, the concerned Ministry/ Organisation should approach Prime Minister''s office alongside cogent reasons. Alternatively, the case can be taken up with the concerned office of Establishment Division to expedite vetting of recruitment rules."
According to the EDB, the Board''s Service Rules are under consideration of the Regulation Wing of the Establishment Division since December 2016. Nature of queries which include defining status of EDB and provision of constitutional/ enabling provisions of Ordinance/ Act of the Parliament etc will take some more time in finalising the service rules for adoption by EDB employees.
On July 16, 2019, Deputy General Manager, Human Resource and Finance, Muhammad Shehzad, who is calling the shots, sent a letter to the Ministry of Industries and Production, in reply to a letter of the Ministry of July 11, 2019 stating that it has already responded to the letter of May 30, 2019.
He further stated that the resolution was forwarded to Board of Management (BoM) members with the approval of the Chairman, a copy of the resolution duly signed by out station members is once again shared with the approval of the Chairman, EDB. Last week, Chairman EDB, BoD, Almas Haider also met Prime Minister''s Advisor Abdul Razak Dawood and requested him to expedite appointment of a permanent CEO EDB.
Comments
Comments are closed.