PESHAWAR (Kashmir English): The Pak-Austria Fachhochschule Institute of Applied Sciences and Technology, located in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, has maintained ongoing Project Director employment since its 2003 establishment, though the institute completed construction several years ago.
The Project Director maintained employment at the institute because the organization had raised his salary to match his original position. The institute has made multiple PC-I project proposals to the government, yet all submitted proposals have been rejected.
The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government summary has emerged, which shows that Pak-Austria Fachhochschule Institute Project Director Naseer Khan was officially removed from his position.
However, no official notification was issued to implement the decision. The university absorbed him after his initial appointment, which raised more suspicions regarding the entire situation.
Sources indicate that the institute lacked authorization for Project Director positions. The Rector retained 68-year-old Naseer Khan in service at the institute because he had already reached retirement age after retiring from Peshawar University in May 2018.
The situation brings forth important inquiries regarding administrative operations and their adherence to established regulations. Nasser Khan started his employment as a temporary Project Director in 2016 and later received permanent status for that position.
He maintained his position until January 2019, when his two-year contract expired. The Higher Education Department developed a summary in 2021, which recommended his dismissal because the institute had appointed a new Rector.
The summary report showed him that Higher Education Department officials had not understood its contents. The Project Director and 26 additional officers moved from HED-funded PMU operations to the university’s regular payroll system, he said.
The PMU had obtained initial funding for two years, which he noted, before all positions received funding through the PC-I system that the university directly paid for.
According to him, these 27 posts still exist and remain fully functional. He confirmed that the university payroll included all 27 employees who had transferred from other locations, while any additional employees who left their positions were not part of this structure.
The department conducted a review of the situation, which led to their confirming the facts that existed. He showed that Khyber Pakhtunkhwa universities operate under the same types of systems that are used at his institution to pay Project Directors from their school budgets.
The KP project policy prohibits regular employment for project workers, which he cited to show that this rule does not apply to semi-autonomous organizations that operate under provincial assembly laws.
He stated that statutory provisions backed by law will always take precedence over general policies. Public sector universities, he maintained, have the authority under their respective Acts to manage and transfer project-based employees.
Naseer Khan explained that permanent staff members need to follow the statutory rules that govern permanent employees. Public sector institutions report their temporary workforce through PC-I documents and budget approvals, although these workers do not appear on their official employee lists.
