ISLAMABAD, Jan 5: True to its governance style of filling important positions on stopgap basis, the government on Monday asked an additional secretary to look after the affairs of education ministry till the time a full secretary is appointed on the seat, which is currently lying vacant.

Shahid Ahmad, an officer of BPS-21 from Customs and Excise group has been given the additional charge of secretary education. The outgoing secretary education Jehangir Bashar, left the charge on December 31, after attaining the age of superannuation.

The issue is not that an additional secretary could not look after the official business of a federal education ministry, but, why didn’t the government appoint a full-fledge secretary when it was obvious that the said position would be vacant by the end of last year.

At one side, the government is claiming to have moved heavens to improve upon governance in the country, but at the same time, could not find enough time to make appointments on positions of key importance.

At present, over one dozen secretary level positions including important positions of secretary establishment and cabinet divisions are lying vacant. Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani is also operating without his Principal Secretary.

The position of Higher Education Commission (HEC) chairman is also being looked after on day-to-day basis by Prime Minister’s special assistant Shehnaz Wazir Ali since the retirement of Dr Attaur Rehman on October 9, 2008.

According to a senior bureaucrat, requesting not to be named, argued that due to lack of interest on the part of the government, top bureaucracy has descended into a state of uncertainty. The government is taking extra time in filling important positions of secretary establishment and cabinet divisions, who play important role in selecting officers for important positions, the official said. Technically speaking in the absence of these two secretaries, bureaucracy could not work smoothly, the official said.

The government’s preoccupation with ongoing tension with India and sluggish state of economy could also be the reason for not paying due attention to these vacant positions, however, in the absence of full-fledge secretaries, concerned ministries are suffering from lack of discipline, the official said.

Meanwhile, the government on Monday appointed two members of the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulator Authority (Pemra) with immediate effect -- well-known economist Kaiser Bengali and Adnan A Khawaja, chairman, National Vocational and Technical Commission of Pakistan.

Whereas, Ashfaq Jumani, a BPS-20 officer, has been made member of National Highway Authority board. Before this, he was working as director general PEMRA in Quetta.