LAHORE: The Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) government is alleged to be going round the due process to appoint a person close to the party leadership as the new chief executive officer (CEO) of the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Authority (Smeda).

The appointment is being made in complete disregard of the condition of 18 years of “post qualification relevant experience” (in the SME sector, sources in the industries and production ministry told Dawn on Wednesday.

Also, the post is being filled without completing the 12-member Smeda board whose endorsement of the candidate selected for top job is mandatory. Half of the board positions to be filled by people from the private sector are lying vacant for quite some time.

The job, which has been vacant for the last six months, was advertised by the industries and production ministry in July. The appointment is made for three years in the lucrative MP-1 (Management Position) scale.

Sources claimed that all the candidates for the position, including some senior Smeda officials with relevant experience of 18 years in the field, were summarily rejected after interviews conducted recently to pave the way for a female official currently working for the Sindh government.

“One of the applicants Alamgir Chaudhry who had acted as Smeda CEO for two and a half years wasn’t even invited for interview to give the job to the lady being backed by top PTI leadership,” a ministry official claimed.

Published in Dawn, October 10th, 2019