ISLAMABAD, Aug 2: After two months of politics, uncertainty and ambiguities, Federal Directorate of Education (FDE) on Thursday got a new Director General, Dr Shahnaz A. Riaz.

According to the notification, Dr Shahnaz has been appointed ‘till further orders.’

Due to the tone and tenor of the notification, Dr Shahnaz will not have the authority to take decisions and employees might not follow her orders as they would a fulltime DG’s instructions, Dawn has learnt.

It is worth mentioning that on May 31, a three member bench headed by the Chief Justice of Pakistan, Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry heard a civil petition of Dr Shahnaz and repatriated her to FDE and all orders regarding her transfer were declared null and void.

Court also restrained secretary CADD to transfer the petitioner to any other department.

Dr Shahnaz, who had to be promoted as director general (DG) in 2001 but during Musharraf’s regime the post was given to an army officer. Later in 2003, the apex court ruled that she should be promoted in accordance to the rules and regulations of the department but court’s order was not implemented in letter and spirit and the management transferred her to the Academy of Education Planning.

Later on, her current charge as DG FDE was given to a political personality Atif Kiyani due to which Dr Shahnaz once again filed a writ in the Supreme Court and in the end the court removed Atif Kiyani.

After the court decision, post of DG remained vacant for two months and Dr Shahnaz was appointed as Director Monitoring and Evaluation but she was insisting that in view of Supreme Court orders she should be appointed as DG.

Vice President of Federal Government Colleges Teachers Association, Prof Khalida Makhdum and spokesman of the association Prof Tahir Mehmood said that they welcome the appointment of Dr Shahnaz as DG.

They expect that outstanding issues of the community like pending house rents ceiling, issue of H-9 College Hostel etc. will be resolved under her tenure.

Dr Shahnaz while talking to Dawn said that although she has taken the charge of her post but she has concerns that why her appointment orders stated ‘till further orders’.

“In the notification my status has been mentioned as ‘officer’ although I am a ‘teacher’ and that’s what should have been mentioned in the notification. I will take-up issues of the community which were ignored by the management for years,” shesaid.