Shake-up renders EDB dysfunctional

The Engineering Development Board (EDB) is reportedly dysfunctional due to massive shakeup in the organisation''s administrative structure without taking the Ministry of Industries and Production (MoI&P) on board, well-informed sources in the Ministry told Business Recorder. The overall performance of the organisation, sources said, is deteriorating day by day due to lack of a well defined hierarchy and inappropriate organisational structure.
Most of the functions of EDB are being assigned to other organisations by the MoI&P, like SMEDA, State Engineering Corporation (SEC), etc at meetings held under the chairmanship of senior officers of the Ministry, the sources added. One key EDB section has been allocated to one officer who also has a spare parts business on the side while other more senior officials are reportedly being ignored and not allowed to attend meetings held in the parent Ministry and other Ministries/organisations.
An insider revealed that there are six functional groups in EDB (ie Policy, Tariff, Sector Development, Business Development, Bi-lateral Trade & Quality Control) out of which three are being run by the CEO-EDB - functions which are in addition to his (CEOs) own position as well as the special projects cell that he also heads by on occasion bypassing relevant department heads. The CEO is supported by his private secretary and Co-ordinator who is working as Dy. General Manager and heads HR and administrative section.
Three senior officers are heading their respective departments but working under the directions of CEO, it was further revealed to this correspondent. Federal audit, a wing of Auditor General of Pakistan which conducts audit of organisations which fall under the administrative control of the federal government, detected 31 violations in the EDB ranging from appointment of CEO EDB to increase in CEOs'' salary to misuse of CEO authority.
Minister for Industries and Production, Ghulam Murtaza Khan Jatoi told Business Recorder that he has conveyed to CEO EDB in a meeting that his degrees are in question. The contract of Chief Executive Officer (CEO) will expire on March 31, 2017.
The sources said, "independence" of EDB can be gauged from the fact that the CEO recently extended a facilitation letter to a local auto company which intends to restart a dormant plant without the permission of the Ministry. However, the issue was brought into the notice of the incumbent Secretary, Khizar Hayat Gondal, who withdrew the letter from the Board of Investment (BoI).