ISLAMABAD: The frequent change of secretaries Capital Administration and Development Division (CADD) has badly affected the working of education and health sectors in the federal capital.

Since its inception in 2011, CADD has seen the appointment and transfer of its secretaries in a quick succession. And on Thursday, the federal government appointed Khalid Hanif as the 11th secretary CADD.

“Secretaries come and go without taking any serious initiative,” a senior official in CADD told Dawn.

A retired federal secretary added that a secretary was supposed to work on the post at least for three years.

“Normally, in six months a secretary properly understands the issues of his ministry. Then he needs time to fix problems and initiate projects.”

CADD was established by the Pakistan People’s Party government in 2011 following the devolution of ministries to the provinces. It looks after the affairs of the leftover departments in the federal capital, mainly education and health.

Sources in CADD said due to the frequent changes of the secretaries, several important projects in the health and education sectors could not be launched. They said CADD’s first secretary Junaid Iqbal had approved a PC-1 to upgrade the F.G. schools in phases. But his successor discontinued the project. “In 2010, the prime minister announced a uniform education system in all educational institutions in Islamabad by upgrading the federal government schools and colleges to the level of model institutions but that directive is yet to be fully implemented,” he said.

Since its inception in 2011, CADD has seen 11 secretaries

Similarly, during the tenure of Israr Rauf and Riffat Shaheen Qazi, CADD advertised around 300 teaching and non-teaching posts but the recruitments could not be made. Ms Riffat also constituted committees to keep a check on education standards in schools but after her transfer the committees became ineffective.

Secretary Faridullah Khan approved a summary to provide financial support to schools as after the implementation of Article 25-A of the constitution, the institutes could not collect fees from students. However, after his transfer, the project could not be implemented.

He said one of the secretaries also started a project to launch O-A level classes in some schools but it also died its own death.

Meanwhile, a source in CADD’s health wing said both Pims and Polyclinic needed extensions. “Almost every secretary showed interest in extending the hospitals but could not take any step perhaps due to their short posting,” he said.

In April 2011, Junaid Iqbal was appointed the first secretary CADD who retired from service eight months later. After his retirement, the then prime minister Yousuf Raza Gilani appointed Imtiaz Inayat Elahi as the secretary CADD.

However, when Raja Pervez Ashraf replaced Mr Gilani, he made a reshuffle in the federal bureaucracy and posted Israr Rauf as the secretary CADD.

On October 25, 2012, Pervez Ashraf appointed Riffat Shaheen Qazi as the new secretary, who served in CADD till March 2013. During the PPP tenure, CADD saw five secretaries changed.

Caretaker prime minister Mir Hazar Khan Khoso transferred Riffat Shaheen in June 2013 and brought in Shafqat Nagmi as the new secretary.

However, a few days later, he was replaced with Shaigan Sharif Malik, who served in CADD till his retirement on September 2, 2013.

After coming to power, the PML-N government appointed Faridullah Khan as the secretary CADD and then removed him and gave the acting charge to Babar Yaqoob Fateh Mohammad. Later, it appointed Hamid Ali Khan for a few days till his retirement. However, after this, the government never appointed a fully-fledged secretary and again directed Fateh Mohammad to look after the affairs of CADD as the acting secretary for about a month.

Sources said in some cases the secretaries themselves lobbied to get themselves transferred from CADD. However, Riffat Shaheen and Faridullah Khan were transferred against their wish.

Professor Sagheer Mirani, the president federal government college teachers’ association, said the frequent changes of secretaries disrupted education activities. “Whenever we met any secretary CADD and briefed him about our issues, the next day he was transferred.”

Azhar Awan, the president of school teachers’ association, added that the frequent changes in the top hierarchy in CADD had affected school education.

Under the government rules, the normal tenure of an officer on the same post should be three years. The posting of an officer on the same post beyond the normal tenure will require concurrence of the competent authority.

Published in Dawn January 18th , 2015

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