— Secretary PSQCA gives himself Rs 2.5 mln loan despite being on deputation
ISLAMABAD: As the ministry of science and technology (MOST) has assigned the job of director, secretary of its attached department Pakistan Standard Quality Control Authority (PSQCA) to an incompetent one on deputation, it has to conduct proper inquiry into tempering in the advertisements of job published by the authority.
As per documents available with this scribe, the ministry through a letter on February 20, 2023, has asked Director General PSQCA to provide all data and files regarding the advertisement related to vacant posts in the authority to conduct the inquiry against those involved in tempering made against the approved one by the ministry.
The ministry, through an office order on January 27, 2023, has constituted a two member inquiry committee composed of Amir Muhammad Khan Niazi DS-A MOST and Ashar Mehmood S.O (Org-III) MoST.
The committee has been asked to probe and fix responsibility for deviating from the approval conveyed via the ministry’s letter in September 2022 in terms of number of posts, experience, age and qualification against various posts and respective domicile and quota/roster distribution. As per the ministry the advertisements of PSQCA published on January 1, 2023 and January 8, 2023 were in contradiction of MOST’s approved advertisements.
Apart from the violations made in the advertisement issue, Shay Mureed Baloch, the Acting Secretary PSQCA, who has been posted on deputation from Education Department of Balochistan in October 2022, has granted over Rs 2.5 million to himself as House Building Financing loan despite the fact that he is on deputation.
“Even the official has so far not submitted his Last Pay Certificate (LPC) in PSQCAÂ from where he has withdrawn the loan,” an official of the authority informed.
As per documents available with this scribe, Shay Mureed, with the approval of former acting DG PSQCA Zainul Abedeen, has also given Rs 118.843 million to at least 83 employees of the authority. While granting the loan, the service length and various other rules set for qualifying for such loans, have also been violated.
When contacted, an official source at MoST confirmed that an inquiry regarding disbursement of the loan to those not qualified has also been initiated.
“The former acting DG was asked to avoid approving the loan to the Secretary PSQCA for being on deputation. But he violated the rule by granting the amount to the secretary,” the official said.
Despite repeated attempts, Mureed Baloch did not attend the telephone and reply to queries shared with him.
Meanwhile, Insiders claim that for political influence both the important positions of PSQCA have been given to officials on deputation from Balochistan as the ministry has also given the charge of DG PSQCA to Mir Ghulam Farooq Langove, joint secretary (Admin) MoST. Langove has also joined the ministry on deputation from Balochistan. All efforts are reportedly being made to absorb these officials in the authority, which is known for corruption cases.
