State-run TV faces Rs2b loss yet favouritism prevails

ISLAMABAD: While state-run Pakistan Television Corporation (PTV) is running into huge financial losses to the tune of Rs2 billion, its management is doling favours to blue-eyed employees with unprecedented and back-dated promotions and unrequired re-designations despite the Supreme Court’s strict observations on state-run TV’s financial mismanagement.

Recently Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Mian Saqib Nisar heard a sou moto case related to former Pakistan Television (PTV) chief Attaullah Haq Qasmi's appointment as managing director (MD) and ordered the senior journalist to return his salary and financial benefits he received as PTV’s Chairman and MD.

However documents available with The News revealed that apart from Qasmi’s case there are several other strange cases of promotion and appointments in PTV despite employees having fake and dubious degrees.

Talking to The News, Deputy Managing Director (DMD) of PTV Zahoor Barlas himself admitted that “PTV is in a state of mess”, with under-qualified employees and huge financial losses. According to official figures provided by Barlas, the state-run corporation has caused about Rs2 billion losses to the national exchequer during last five years despite earning about RS7 billion annually from public in form of Rs35 fee charged with electricity bills from consumers.

“A large number of employees have fake or dubious degrees and we call them holders of Allah Khair degrees,” Barlas said while referring to a the degrees of a private university which is now banned by HEC to admit new students. During last one year alone, PTV has dismissed 50 employees for holding fake degrees from a notorious private university, Barlas said.

The DMD admitted that five of his relatives including his real borther, his nephew and his brother-in -law are also working in PTV but denied that he offered any support in their unprecedented promotions. “I have never asked anyone to promote my brother or nephew. They have been appointed and promoted on merit.”

But some recent decisions under the current management have cause grave unrest among the PTV regular employees who complain that only blue-eyed favorites are being promoted and provided with extra-ordinary benifits.

In one such decision last month, an employee Nazia Riaz has been given back-dated promotion and financial benefits spanning over last six years in an unprecedented decision by the otherwise ineffective Grievance Committee. Surprisingly, the employee Ms Riaz holds a dubious degree from Al-Khair University of Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJ&K) which is banned by the Higher Education Commission (HEC) since 2016 from admission. HEC has also stopped attesting degrees of Al-Khair University since 2016.

However this did not stop PTV management from issuing an Office Order for her controversial promotion on June 26, 2018. According to letter No HP/159/IT/3500, “Services of Ms Riaz are regularized as Training & Coordination Officer (Group-6) with effect from 11.01.2012 and posted at PTV-HQrs Office Islamabad with immediate effect”.

The official document further states that the Grievance Committee took notice of her representation to Managing Director regarding regularization of her services as Training & Coordination Officer (Group-6) according to her education qualification MBA Finance. Interestingly, MBA Finance is not the relevant degree for such high-level posts in IT department which requires an MBA IT for such jobs.

But this is not the only discrepancy in the documents of the promoted employee. According to PTV DMD, she has submitted Bachelors degree from Al-Khair University which was issued in June 2008. But the PTV management issued a letter in June 2007 reporting that her BA degree is missing from her file. “Scrutiny of personal file of Miss Nazia Riaz Resource Person (Information Technology) reveals that copy of BA degree in her personal file is not visible. She is required to submit her original degree for check and return,” says the letter PFIRP-159 signed by Deputy Controller Administration & Personnel-II Muhammad Tariq Cheema.

Sources said the employee submitted a dubious BA degree from Punjab University at the time of her original hiring as resource person (IT) in September 2006. Her second BA degree is dated 2008 so she could not have submitted the Al-Khair degree in 2006. The News also obtained a copy of her aleeged “BA Degree” from Punjab University which was attested by a headmaster of FG Boys Secondary School in Golra, Islamabad.

Documents also revealed that Ms Nazia mentioned two separate dates of births in her papers submitted with PTV as her computerized national Identity Card (CNIC) shows 1982 as her year of birth while her domicile and matriculation certificate states 1978 as her year of birth.

While contacted by The News, Ms Nazia who is now set to be automatically promoted to Group 8 owing to back-dated promotion, denied she was given extra-ordinary favour by the management. “I deserved this being the highly qualified employee,” she said. However she insisted she will not reveal her university which awarded her MBA degree. She admitted that her matriculation was done in D grade while her FA certificate was in E grade. “The Grievance Committee rightly promoted me in Group 6 as I was wrongly demoted to group five by the management,” she said.

The DMD PTV Zahoor Barlas also supported Nazia’s claims saying she deserved promotion as originally she had been granted Grade 6 by the Secretary Information in response to her earlier complain in 2013.

Regarding her two dates of birth, Barlas said the employee was asked to choose one date and she decided 1978 as her date of birth. He did not mention any action taken against her for mis-declaration of birth date. “Many employees in PTV did that and we ask them to decided one date” he said. However sources said action has been taken againt other employees who mis-declared their dates of birthd and their financial benefits had been withheld.

When asked why the Grievances committee has so far failed to resolve any other case apart from the controversial decision of Ms Nazia, the DMD said in other cases employees had been challenging the decisions of the committee in higher courts.

The DMD also lamented the role of PTV trade union and blamed it for the current dismal state of the organization. “This organization has 30% job quota for children and relatives of employees. No other organization offers such benefit to employees,” he said.

When contacted, Javeria Qureshi, who was original petitioner in Supreme Court in Qasmi’s case said the current PTV management was involved in gross irregularities where some blue-eyed employees were given extraordinary favours while others are deprived of their rights.

She said the post of Managing Director is empty since last three years and temporary charges are given to officers of the information ministry who are not interested in the protection of PTV’s interests.

She said PTV was earning profit only few years ago but a national institution is being destroyed through ad-hocism. “We need a professional as the Managing Director of PTV to save the future of the corporation,” she said.

She said despite ban on hirings in PTV, the management has hired three persons last months. Several others are being favoured through re-designations, she added. However DMD said the ban on hiring is applicable on certain posts only. He admitted that PTV is filling vacant posts through re-designation but denied that the same is being done to promote blue-eyed persons.