RAHIM YAR KHAN: All three officials of the District Education Authority (DEA) booked by the Anti-Corruption Establishment (ACE) over corruption are allegedly performing their duties, Dawn has learnt.

According to details, after many public complaints, the ACE registered a case against three officials, including DEA CEO Malik Muhammad Aamir.

The case included allegations of illegal appointments, misuse of renovation funds and large-scale corruption. After an investigation by the departments concerned, the allegations were found to be true, leading to registration of a formal case. However, their arrests were allegedly delayed due to political and bureaucratic influence.

The primary complaint was filed by Munir Ahmed against Malik Muhammad Aamir, who was the district education officer (DEO) secondary at the time, Kastura Ji Shad the then DEA CEO and deputy district education officers (DDEO), Rahim Yar Khan.

The complaint had alleged that illegal and bogus appointments were made in exchange for bribes of Rs10,000 per person with a total collected amount of Rs1 million. The complaint further alleged that although only 360 positions were vacant, appointment orders for 900 posts were issued.

The complaint was merged into another case on Sept 11, 2025, as both complaints contained identical charges. The case was then forwarded to the Punjab ACE director general for formal approval.

The final inquiry report was submitted in September 2025 and it revealed corruption amounting to more than Rs10 million.

The report recommended that the role, in the alleged corruption, of recruitment committee members, relevant DDEOs and headmasters involved in the illegal appointments be determined during further investigation.

The report also recommended registration of a criminal case against the accused and an FIR was subsequently registered.

When contacted, School Education Department (SED) Additional Secretary Dr Wazir Ahmed Agha committed to share a response to the questions of this correspondent, however, he did not respond till the filing of this report.

RYK Deputy Commissioner Zaheer Anwar Jappa said that the SED was the relevant authority on the matter.

CEO Aamir said he as DEO SE served as a member of the recruitment committee and was not the competent authority to appoint any person, so he had not issued a single appointment order.

He said that all the secondary school heads and deputy DEOs were authorised and empowered to issue appointment orders.

He claimed that a group within the clerical association had initiated baseless applications against him for their personal gain.

He claimed that the ACE had completed the inquiry and found no evidence of bribery against him.

Published in Dawn, November 14th, 2025