Due to nonappointment of permanent heads of those organizations, the officers’ promotion was also facing delay, Secretary Ministry for Science and Technology (MoST) informed the Senate body, that met under the Chairmanship of Senator Mushtaq Ahmed.
11 Sub-Ordinate Organizations of MoST Survive Without Heads
The performance of the majority of the departments working under the Ministry was not up to the mark as officers from other departments were given the look after taking charge of those organizations, he said. The organizations without its Chairman included, Pakistan Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (PCSIR), Pakistan Council of Research in Water Resources (PCRWR), Pakistan Council for Science and Technology (PCST), Pakistan Science Foundation (PSF), Pakistan National Accreditation Council (PNAC), Pakistan Council for Renewable Energy Technologies (PCRET), National Institute of Electronics (NIE) National Institute of Oceanography (NIO), Council for Work and Housing Research (CWHR), STEDEC Technology Commercialization Corporation of Pakistan (Private) Limited and Pakistan Halal Authority (PHA). A summary regarding the regular appoints of the said organizations had already been moved to the Cabinet for approval, the Secretary informed. Reviewing the budgetary allocation, the Committee was informed that, Rs 1300 million has been allocated under Public Sector Development Programme for the fiscal year 2019-20 while, Rs 6107 million has been allocated for task force projects. There were 23 projects approved by the Ministry, while the number of task force projects was 8, which was in the approval phase. Last year, the Ministry’s budget was Rs 1487.7 million out of which 716 million were released and 538 million were utilized. To which Chairman of the Committee directed the Ministry to come up with the proposals for useful utilization of the funds so that the Ministry of Finance and Planning can be consulted in that regard. He asked the Science and Technology Taskforce to present its progress report after every six months before the Committee and urged them to work on water agriculture issues being faced by the country. Senator Kamran Michel said that Pakistan has a lot of talent and stressed the need to review the policies for strengthening and facilitating such people. The Secretary MoST said Research work was being conducted in every institution but due to interdepartmental rift, it was not yielding fruitful results. Regarding the funding issue of 250 destitute children, the Rector COMSATS told the Senate body that the business of the institution has declined due to non-payment of various universities. The Committee was told that with the provision of Rs 2 million, the problems of 250 children could be resolved, to which Secretary MoST and Rector COMSATS assured the members for immediately release of funds. Briefing on the suspension of officers, Secretary PSQCA said that many inquiries have been resolved except two persons and both were suspended. To this, the Chairman of the Committee directed the Ministry to prepare PSQCA employees’ inquiry report itself. The meeting was attended by Senators Syed Muhammad Sabir Shah, Gian Chand, Hedayatullah and other officials from MoST. Recommended Reading: PTA Raises Issue of Blocking of Twitter Accounts
