KARACHI, Nov 22: The cases pertaining to affiliation and registration of technical education institutions are piling up at the Sindh Board of Technical Education as the government delays the appointment of the board’s chairman, said official sources.

The Sindh education minister is the competent authority who can order a fresh appointment on the vacant post of chairman. Engineer Syed Hassan was the last person who held the office till October 10 when he was killed near his residence by unknown armed assailants.

STBE officials maintained that routine matters as well as some works pertaining to the examinations, compilation and declaration of results were being carried out without any hurdle, but any inordinate delay could make the students suffer.

Some old cases pertaining to affiliation and renewal of registration of technical education institutions are being taken up in the absence of the chairman, but it would be difficult in the long run to process new cases of affiliations, said the sources.

The process of grant of affiliation to institutions for technical training and teaching in various trades is almost at a standstill in the absence of chairman who in line with the board’s rules used to be the key person approving any proceeding in this regard.

The sources said that about 35 cases of affiliation were in pending and it was likely that the number of cases would increase during the next few weeks when more applications were received from institutions.

The maximum pressure is regarding affiliation of Diploma in Information Technology and Diploma in Business Administration programmes. Institutions want finalisation of their cases before the commencement of new admissions in January next.

It was learnt that it is the chairman who first approves inspection teams for affiliation and then gives his final verdict on the reports submitted by the teams/committees.

An official at the board said that as far as old applications were concerned they were being processed without any problem as the deceased chairman had approved different inspection teams before his death.

“We are allowing different institutions to offer courses on the basis of positive reports received by the approved inspection teams, though there is a need of final approval of the chairman,” added the official pointing out that normally the chairmen did not disagree with the opinion of any inspection team in the past.

However, the managements of a few institutions disputed the version and said that they had admitted students with the understanding that required affiliation would be given in due course of time.

“The examinations are approaching, but we are unable to send up our students for examinations as application regarding affiliation filed in June last is still in pending,” said the owner of a technical education institution and urged the government to appoint any person to officiate till the time it found a regular chairman for the SBTE.

It was further learnt that works pertaining to major purchases, projects for improvements in the financial, administrative and examinations affairs also could not be expedited in the absence of chairman.