PESHAWAR: After failing to appoint a permanent head to the Technical Education and Vocational Training Authority (Tevta) twice in the last one year, the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government has again handed over the reins of the organisation to a serving Pakistan Air Force officer as an additional charge.

On June 21, the government had transferred provincial environmental secretary Syed Nazar Hussain Shah to the Tevta and made him its managing director.

Mr Shah was to replace Air Commodore Mohammad Amin, who was basically the principal adviser to the chief minister on technical education and aviation, but he didn’t assume the new responsibility.

The establishment department later asked Mr Shah to report to it before directing industries secretary Mohammad Fahim Wazir to take over as the authority’s head.

Govt reappoints PAF officer as authority chief

However, it withdrew that order within few days and formally announced that the competent authority had authorised Air Commodore Mohammad Amin to hold the additional charge of the of the top Tevta post by relieving industries secretary Fahim Wazir of the additional duty.

However, sources said Mr Amin, whose services were temporarily placed at the disposal of the government in April 2017 as the principal adviser to the chief minister, had since emerged as a powerful figure in the technical education sector, as 28 technical educational institutions were handed over the Shaheen Technical and Vocational Education, a joint venture between PAF and Tevta, to improve the quality of technical education.

The officer is said to be close to former chief minister Pervez Khattak.

In May 2017, the government announced the appointment of Air Commodore Amin as the principal adviser to the chief minister on technical education and aviation.

A notification said Air Commodore Amin awaiting posting at the establishment department had been posted as the adviser for technical education and aviation (BPS-20/21) at the Chief Minister’s Secretariat against the vacant post with an immediate effect.

However, in Sept 2017, the government transferred the then Tevta MD, Mohibullah Khan, and gave Air Commodore Amin the additional charge of the top Tevta office.

Sources in the industries department told Dawn that since Mr Faheem Wazir was scheduled to retire later this month, he was not much interested in taking over the Tevta.

An establishment department official said the order for Mr Nazar Shah’s transfer was cancelled due to his unwillingness to take over the authority and therefore, Mr Wazir was given the charge of that office.

He said Air Commodore Amin’s re-appointment as the Tevta chief was made on the directions of interim Chief Minister retired Justice Dost Mohammad Khan.

“The interim chief minister wanted him (Air Commodore Amin) to head the authority,” he claimed.

When asked about the duration of the additional charge beyond six months, the official said he would have to check it.

Published in Dawn, August 12th, 2018