PESHAWAR: Some candidates have alleged that the PTI government in the province has violated merit by appointing an office-bearer of the ruling party to the post of a media specialist.

Former bureau chief of a private TV channel in Peshawar Shaukat Khattak told Dawn on Saturday that there was a complete violation of merit during the appointment of the media specialist by the provincial information department.

He said at least six candidates met the eligibility criteria for the post laid down in the advertisement given in September last year.

According to him, the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government as part of its restructuring plan of the health directorate had planned the appointment of a specialist to lead the media cell.

Interviews were held in November last year but the appointment wasn’t made as the government wanted to upgrade the post of the communication specialist to that of media specialist, which required a proper PC-1.

The post was upgraded to basic pay scale 19 fixing the salary of its occupant to Rs150,000 a month.

The candidates, who had appeared in the earlier interviews, were called again on February 19.

They were interviewed by a panel of senior officials, which appointed Najibullah Khattak as the media specialist for the three-year project.

“The appointee, whose appointment was notified on July 7, is an office-bearer of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf. He has no media experience, while the people with more than 15 years experience have been denied the post,” Shaukat Khattak said.

The candidate said he along with others was going to the court against the ‘unlawful’ appointment.

“The selected candidate has done MBA and has nothing to do with journalism though he should have a degree in communication and mass journalism,” he said.

Shaukat Khattak said the highly technical post should be offered to a highly professional man.

An insider said the government had already established a media cell, where eight new employees worked.

Najibullah Khattak will also oversee that cell.

“He is already the employee of the media cell,” he said. According to the insider, there has been no tests and interviews for the posts of media cell.

Chief Minister Pervez Khattak defended the appointment when a journalist asked him about it.

“I needed a person (for the job) and signed a summary sent to me,” he said.

Another journalist also alleged violation of merit in the appointment and said the said post was related to the media and only one with media experience should have been appointed to it.

“We are going to the court against the selection committee’s decision, which has violated merit,” he said.

The journalist said the government had included the management qualification in the prescribed qualification to pave the way for Najibullah’s appointment.

Information minister Mushtaq Ghani wasn’t available for version on the appointment despite repeated contacts.

Published in Dawn, July 14th, 2014