KARACHI, Sept 17: Delay in appointments on key posts at the Urdu Lughat Board has greatly hampered work on the last volume of the Lughat. The post of the chief editor has been vacant for a year while the ministry of education has yet to appoint a full-time president of the board, Dawn has learnt.

The Urdu Lughat Board published the 21st volume of the Lughat, the second last in the series, in April last year.

The president of the Urdu Lughat Board, Dr Farman Fatehpuri, left the board in August after his contract ended. The board is also reportedly without an administration officer.

Sources said the board needed appointment on key posts as it was affecting the pace of work. It might also affect the quality of work.

Talking to Dawn, Farhat Fatima, acting chief editor of the board, said: “Though the problem of delay in appointment exists, it’s in no way affecting the quality of work. There are three assistant editors and six scholars working on the 700-page project and 160 pages have already been printed. It is hoped that the last volume will be out in March, 2009.”

However, she pointed out that persistent power outages had severely affected the pace of work. “The biggest problem is that of power breakdowns. This has badly affected the printing process as well the editing job.”

The board is also working on producing a technical Lughat and another with detailed description about the different terminologies used in the Urdu language.

Former chief editor of the board Dr Rauf Parekh was not available for comment.

Though the initial work of the Urdu Lughat Board — enunciation of guiding principles for Urdu lexicography, establishment of a well-stocked library, provision of books, appointment of scholars and staff — began in 1958, the first volume of the Lughat came out in 1977.

The Urdu Lughat Board has modelled its flagship dictionary on the pattern of the Greater Oxford Dictionary.