ISLAMABAD: The federal government on Wednesday appointed Hasnat Qureshi as chairman of Private Educational Institutions Regulatory Authority (Peira), a grade 20 officer of Pakistan Audit and Accounts Service until further orders.

At a time when Peira is facing nine cases in the Islamabad High Court, the government on Tuesday replaced

Mussadiq Malik with Hasnat Qureshi who was serving as director general, Pakistan Science Foundation, under the Ministry of Science and Technology.

Piera had been without a regular chairman for several years. Last year CADD initiated the process of appointing a regular chairman, and after short-listing candidates, it stopped the selection.

It had been a year since the process was put on a back burner when the government on Tuesday appointed Mr Qureshi as Peira chairman.

However, the ministry of CADD defended the decision of the government.

“The new chairman has been appointed to resolve issues of private schools amicably,” read a statement issued by the ministry.

It said that the Private Educational Institutions Regulatory Authority chairman was removed over the private schools registration issue, which forced around 30,000 students to sit matriculation examination as private students.

Owners of several private schools have been opposing the outgoing Peira chairman as he had not only capped the fee of private schools but also increased the registration fee of the schools.

Published in Dawn, February 22nd, 2017