PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government has failed to provide legal cover to the unlawful delegation of powers by Chief Minister Pervez Khattak as chairperson of the Board of Directors of Technical Education and Vocational Training Authority (Tevta) to a special assistant duringthe pastone year.
According to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Technical Education and Vocational Training Authority Act, 2015, the chief minister, by virtue of his office, is hairperson of BoD of the authority.
However, in Jan 2016 the chief minister delegated the powers of chairperson of BoD of Tevta to his special assistant Arshed Ali, whileno such like provision was available in the law. Mr Ali, who belongs to Qaumi Watan Party, is special assistant to chief minister on technical education.
Sub-section 3 of section 5 of the law states: `The chief minister Khyber Pakhtunkhwa shall be the chairperson of the board (Board of Directors).
The law says that the administration, management and general control of Tevta and its affairs shall vest in the board of directors, which may exercise all powers and do all acts and things to further the objectives of the Tevta.
Under the law, Tevta is responsible for imparting such technical education and vocational skills through institutions under its administrative and regulatory control, which is based on syllabi acceptable internationally and accredited with national and international institutions.
The chief minister delegated his powers as chairperson of Tevta BoD in January 2016 to his special assistant after QWP rejoined the provincial government in October2015. Earlier, the PTI had expelled QWP from government in November 2013 for alleged corruption by its members.
The chief minister`s powers were delegated to his special assistant through anotiñcation,issued by the industries and technical education department.
Sources said that the issue of delegation of powers was also raised in the meeting of BoD. The law department in its opinion, about the delegation of powers, said that chief minister could not delegate his powers to any person.
When asked about the impact of the delegation powers on the department, sources said that it mattered who chaired the meeting of BoD. They said that the decisions taken in a meeting of BoD chaired by chief minister would be easily implemented as compared to those that were made in a meeting chaired by his special assistant.
An official of the industries and technical education department, when contacted, said that the department had proposed amend-ments to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Technical Education and Vocational Training Authority Act, 2015 to put the administrative matters in right direction.
He said that the proposed amendments were sent to law department for vetting. He added that after vetting by the law department, the amendments would be present in the cabinet meeting.
The official said that after approval of the cabinet, the proposed amendments would be incorporated in the law with the approval of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa assembly.
Asked about the nature of the proposed amendments, he said that chief minister would be the chairperson but he would be empowered to delegate his powers to a minister, adviser and special assistant.
When asked about the status of the decisions taken in the meeting of BoD having its illegal chairperson, the official said that protection would be given to such decisions through the law or BoD.
