Back in 2017, the Pakistani government was directed by LHC (Lahore High Court) to appoint a chairman of PTA (Pakistan Telecommunication Authority) in 30 days – specifically, before January 21st, 2018. However, it seems that the position of the Chairman PTA is still available for an applicant. Words on the street are that the government might re-advertise the job for a fitting appointment.
In the past, a committee was held by Interior Minister Ahsan Iqbal for conducting the interviews of the shortlisted candidates for the position of chairman PTA. The shortlisted candidates were Dr. Ismail Shah, Talat Abbasi, Khawar Kokhar, Saad Zaman, Mushtaq Bhatti and Riaz Ahmed. However, Dr. Ismail Shah and Mr. Riaz Ahmed backed off from the called interviews and decided not to go after the job.
As reported by a PTA employee, “This is only going to delay the appointment further and may take up to three months”.
Now, it’s been heard that government might have to advertise the chairman position once again to look for some suitable candidates. The appointment case is still going on at Lahore High Court and next hearing is dated February 26th, 2018.
It is no surprise that a Chairman PTA hasn’t been appointed yet, as it’s definitely not the first time that the process took this long. Previously, the appointment of Dr. Ismail Shah, the outgoing Chairman PTA, was also finalized when Supreme Court got involved and gave the government a firm deadline.
It must be noted that PTA is currently in a dysfunctional state as there is neither a Chairman nor a Member Finance in the agency. Speaking of Member Finance, the government has advertised for its position as well and has shortlisted four people.
However, nothing has been decided, as of yet and the vacancies need to be filled soon.
Here’s the advertisement for the post of chairman PTA;
Who do you think should be appointed? Let us know down in comments.
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