ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) has directed the federal government to expedite the process for appointment of a regular director general Pakistan Standards and Quality Control Authority (PSQCA).

The court issued the directive in a writ petition filed by Dr Shehzad Afzal, an employee of the PSQCA.

Barrister Munawar Iqbal Duggal, additional attorney general, informed the court that the appointment process had been started but the candidates did not meet the qualification criteria.

The MP-1 scale position stipulated that candidates must possess a master’s degree in the relevant field while all the candidates who had applied for the post had bachelor’s degrees.

As a result, the Ministry of Science and Technology ordered that the whole process be restarted, he added.

Consequently, the court assigned the responsibility to the secretary Ministry of Science and Technology to ensure that the advertisement and scrutiny of candidates were completed within six weeks. The case would be taken up by the court again on December 12, 2023.

In his petition Dr Afzal pleaded that the Ministry of Science and Technology was violating the Management Position Scales Policy 2020 in the appointment of the PSQCA director general.

He presented the minutes of a selection committee meeting held on May 17, 2023, which showed that the recommended candidates for the post did not meet the qualification criteria specified in the policy.

He argued that the ministry had repeatedly initiated the hiring process and abandoned it, showing lack of commitment to appoint a regular DG.

The PSQCA is without a regular DG since September 2021 and Dr H.U. Khan has been assigned the acting charge.

Published in Dawn, October 9th, 2023