Muzaffarabad (Kashmir English): Azad Kashmir Minister of Higher Education Malik Zafar Iqbal Wednesday told the House that as many as 180 colleges under administrative control of the Higher Education Commission, in remote areas of the state are non-functional.
He further said that 570 positions in the Higher Education Department are lying vacant at present.
The revelation was made in response to a question from Leader of the Opposition Khawaja Farooq Ahmed.
The Minister further told the House that there is a stay order on the positions requisitioned by the Public Service Commission, and the court has also stayed ad-hoc appointments.
Appointment of college lecturers
The government has issued an advertisement for the appointment of lecturers on a contract basis under a stop-gap policy based on open merit, he added.
Khawaja Farooq Ahmed had drawn the Speaker’s attention through a supplementary question regarding the difference between the issued advertisement and the written response given in the House, stating that the government had advertised for recruitments under open merit, without specifying a quota, and that interviews for appointments were being conducted on a district basis, which is unfair, and only one position was given in Muzaffarabad.
In response, the Minister of Higher Education stated that no employee is willing to go to remote areas, and Muzaffarabad is the capital where no employee is willing to go outside the city.
When the Speaker asked the Minister to clarify the discrepancy between the advertisement and the written response, Minister of Law Mian Abdul Waheed said that the contract policy has been introduced to prevent the educational loss of children studying in remote areas in government educational institutions, which is similar to Punjab.
“Efforts are being made to bridge this gap by recruiting local educated youth on a lump-sum salary.”
The Minister informed the House that there has been no violation of the quota. Appointments made through the Public Service Commission will be as per the quota.
He said the current policy is the result of a stop-gap arrangement approved by the cabinet.
Former Prime Minister Raja Farooq Haider Khan said that the quota is murder of merit and should be abolished.
