ISLAMABAD: Members of Parliament on Thursday were displeased with delays in the devolution of various departments to the provinces under the 18th Constitutional Amendment.

Members of the Senate Functional Committee on Devaluation, which met with Senator Mir Kabeer Ahmed in the chair, agreed that the political leadership and parliamentary parties had worked hard on the 18th amendment but several departments were yet to be devolved.

“Instead of debating on profitable and non-profitable departments, the concerned departments should be devolved under the 18th amendment,” the committee chairman said.

He said it is inappropriate that important national issues are pending in the Council of Common Interest (CCI) and that the issue of the devolution of the Higher Education Commission (HEC) was also pending with the CCI.

Members said the committee should be apprised of the legislation for provincial HECs and court matters. HEC members informed the committee about the commission’s performance and said Pakistani universities were progressing internationally as well.

The committee decided to hold a one-point agenda meeting on the HEC for consultation with all provinces. The committee also discussed the issue of the non-regularisation of the services of the employees of Workers Welfare Board, KP and that they were not paid their salaries. It directed the authorities concerned to immediately release the salaries of 2,200 employees of the Worker Welfare Board.

The committee directed that pensioners of the EOBI should not be charged Rs17 when using their ATM cards.

Published in Dawn, May 26th, 2017