ISLAMABAD: The ad-hocism in Pakistan Television (PTV) has become a norm in the state-run broadcaster as insiders claimed that the handful but well-connected individuals are getting benefit with makeshift arrangements.

Since 2022, after the then managing director, Amer Manzoor, was forced to resign, the PTV has been run by the information ministry through its additional secretaries.

Likewise, other key departments are run through stopgap arrangements. For instance, Administration and Personnel Director Farhat Abbas Janjua has been assigned the charge of director academy and personnel as well as general manager. Similarly, PTV Controller Chaudhry Saleem is also working as the current affairs in-charge and holding office of the director current affairs.

In response to an earlier plea, Islamabad High Court Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani had directed the information ministry to appoint the regular managing director. During a hearing on July 18, Justice Kayani was told that after the enactment of the State-Owned Enterprises (Governance and Operations) Act, 2023, the board of directors had to be appointed under the said new law, which was in the works.

In a subsequent hearing, the information secretary informed the court that the process would take two to three months to finalise.

According to sources in the state-run TV, PTV is being run through makeshift arrangements, which has turned the profit-making entity into a loss-making organisation, unable to pay its employees.

A recent letter by the finance director to all unit heads of the PTV showed that the organisation is facing financial constraints and restrictions are in place even for necessary expenses, like changing tyres of official vehicles, repairs and maintenance of indispensable equipment.

In 2022, the administration of the PTV barred the “directors/heads of units/general managers for hiring of talent”; however, the documents available with Dawn show that a number of appointments had been made on daily wages.

Interestingly, some technicians have been re-designated as current affairs producers. As per the documents, studio hand, engineers and personnel were re-designated as producers over the last couple of months.

The PTV administration and the information ministry, during a hearing, informed the IHC that at present the PTV board was functional, and a new board was being constituted in which independent directors were required to be nominated by the federal government from the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP).

When contacted, acting PTV managing director Syed Mubashir Tauqir termed the allegations of corruption in the state-run television as “rubbish”. He said that false rumours were being spread on social media.

Neither the MD nor the PTV spokesperson Tasawar Arafat Chaudhry responded to questions sent to them through WhatsApp regarding the re-designation of technicians, assigning multiple positions to certain individuals and appointments of daily wagers by the unit heads.

PTV Director Administration and Personnel Farhat Abbas Janjua, when approached, said technicians even the helpers could be re-designated as producers if they fulfilled the required educational qualification.

Regarding assigning multiple positions to the individuals, Mr Janjua, who himself wears three different caps, said under the PTV rules, the MD could ask an officer to hold more than one portfolio.

He denied any financial constraint in the state-run TV and said salaries were being disbursed among the employees within the said timeframe.

Published in Dawn, September 7th, 2024