The Sindh cabinet took some important decisions including approval of Rs 23.559 billion subsidy on wheat, acquisition of HESCOand SEPCO, ban on the hunting of migratory birds, regularization of IBA pass teachers, recruitment of 297 teachers appointed in 2012.
The cabinet also approved the draft agreement with the federal government to run three health institutes of Karachi – JPMC, NICH, and NICVD initially for an extendable period of 25 years.
The meeting was held under the chairmanship of Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah here at CM House. Those who attended the meeting, included provincial ministers, advisors, special assistants, and chairman P&D. Since Chief Secretary Sohail Rajput was busy in a meeting in Islamabad, therefore Senior Member Board of Revenue (SMBR) Baqaullah Unar conducted the meeting.
The cabinet sub-committee, after thorough deliberations, recommended the cabinet to issue wheat 2022-23 at Rs5825 per 100 kg with Rs23.559 billion of subsidy.
The chief minister directed the food dept to prepare a foolproof strategy to ensure that the subsidy was passed on to the real consumers and the price of Atta was kept in the range of Rs58 to 65 per kg.
The cabinet also decided to purchase 200,000 tons of wheat from PASSCO for which Rs16.768 billion were approved. The cabinet decided that the PASSCO would give 100,000 local wheat and the remaining 100,000 imported.
Minister Energy Imtiaz Shaikh told the meeting that the Privatization Commission had decided to privatize all federal government-owned DISCOs to private sector management but finally it decided to hand over them to the concerned provincial governments.
Minister Energy told the cabinet that Hesco and Sepco would be the first DISCOs in the country that would be transferred to a provincial government.
The chief minister said that under the constitution the provincial government was authorized to undertake power distribution. Therefore, he directed the energy minister to appoint a consultant firm to study the number of employees, sales growth, target losses, financial cost, and recovery ratio for both the companies, Hesco and Sepco so that they could be acquired.
The cabinet decided the acquisition of Hesco and Sepco and decided to operate them with the help of a professional private partner.
The cabinet was told that under the 18th amendment, the Sindh govt had taken over the administrative control of three devolved institutions, Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC), National Institute of Child Health (NICH) and National Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases (NICVD) in July 2011.
The high and the supreme courts gave verdicts against the devotions of the three institutions, therefore they were restored to the federal government in May 2019. However, later the federal cabinet decided to hand over devolved institutions to the respective governments in July 2019. In response to the cabinet decision, the federal government shared a draft Operating & Management Agreement (OMA) to finalize an agreement between the federal and the Sindh governments to run the devolved institutions.
The Federal and Provincial governments deliberated the draft and finally, presented it in a meeting held under the Prime Minister on August 18, 2022.
The initial term of the agreement, effective from the date of signing of the agreement, would be for a period of 25 years. Under the agreement, The Sindh government would be authorized to operate, develop, maintain and upgrade the hospitals through its Health Department. The Operating Cost, including salaries, medicines, utilities, and development expenditures to be borne by the Sindh Government. The Provincial government would be entitled to hire the staff necessary to perform work; the employees are to be governed as per the laws of Sindh Province and revert to Provincial Government after the expiry of the agreement.
Under the draft agreement, all the federal employees working in the hospital would continue.
The Sindh cabinet approved the draft agreement and referred it to the federal government for final approval.
Minister for Education Sardar Shah told the cabinet that in 2012 recruitment of teaching and non-teaching staff was made more than the sanctioned strength in which different inquiries were held at different levels. He added that the salaries of most of the purported appointees were stopped. The claimants approached services tribunals, and different courts and finally the matter ended up in the Supreme Court.
The minister said that on the directives of the Supreme court, 1037 petitioners and intervenors were heard in person and their cases were scrutinized minutely. As a result, 193 cases were found as per criteria, 85 candidates were found appointed on fake/ bogus degrees, 104 petitioners whose academic/ professional certificates were found in order but submitted the Medical Fitness certificate after the appointments (Between 4 days to 4 weeks) and 655 candidates did not meet the eligibility criteria or submitted medical certificates belatedly (more than 4 weeks).
The cabinet discussed the matter and decided to appoint 297 teachers, including 193 whose cases were found as per the criteria and 104 who submitted their medical fitness certificates late.
The cabinet was told that 6000 (JESTs) and 1190 (ECTs) were recruited through IBA Sukkur under the Recruitment policy 2017. The Teachers were appointed on a contract basis in 2018-20 for a period of five years on the condition that after the completion of four years, the selected teachers would have to clear test for further extension.
The cabinet keeping in view the Recruitment Policy 2021 decided to regularize them from March 2022.
The Wildlife department presented an agenda item that a ban on hunting of native game birds and migratory waterfowls said that during the natural disaster wildlife suffered equally as human life. “To extend protection to wildlife during a natural calamity,” Special Assistant Bangul Khan said the sustainable use of wildlife was key to sustainable development and highly required during the era of climate change.
The chief minister said that he ban hunting of native game birds and migratory waterfowl for one year until the wildlife get recovered from the shock sustained due to natural disasters. The cabinet approved the proposal.
The health department presented a draft bill for the Establishment of the Benazir Institute Of Urology And Transplant (BIUT), Nawabshah-2022 to establish the institute for providing urological and transplantation services to the people of Sindh at Shaheed Benazirabad with the technical assistance of Sindh Institute of Urology and Transplantation (SIUT), Karachi to cope up with the increased cases of urological diseases in entire Sindh.
The meeting was told that the institute would be an autonomous body to function through its independent board of governors.
The institute would undertake treatment with the latest physical facilities necessary for carrying out investigation and treatment of urology, nephrology, and organ transplant; and to undertake postgraduate programs in the field of urology, nephrology, and training of nursing & paramedical staff.
The cabinet approved the bill and referred it to the assembly for consideration.
The provincial cabinet, on the request of the health department, approved an additional grant of Rs434.188 million on account of the financial impact of the imposition of 17 percent GST.
The cabinet, on the request of the Universities & Boards, presented a request for declaring Karachi Medical & Dental College as an affiliated college and Abbasi Shaheed Hospital as a teaching hospital of Karachi Metropolitan University.
The KMC has proposed to establish a full-fledged public University in district Central, Karachi. The Karachi Metropolitan University Bill duly vetted by the law department has already been sent to the assembly.
The University & Boards department presented an item requesting the cabinet to place the 27 colleges of District Hyderabad under the jurisdiction of GC University, Hyderabad. GC college was upgraded as a university on January 21, 2018 when it achieved 100 years of successful educational services. It was originally established in 1917 by the great educationist Dayaram Gidumal Shahani.
The cabinet constituted a committee under Minister U&B Ismail Rahu, Minister Education Sardar Shah and Advisor Law as its members to decide its jurisdiction. Currently, the 27 colleges are under the jurisdiction of Sindh University.
The cabinet on the request of `One Nation Foundation’ and endorsement of the Charter Inspection and Evaluation Committee approved a grant of Charter to AL Ghazali University (Jamia Tul Ghazali) Karachi. The cabinet referred the draft bill to the assembly.
The cabinet on the proposal of the Culture department extended the contractual appointment of Khalid Bin Shaheen for a period of three years. However, the chief minister turned down the request of the imposition of fees on films. He added that he was working to promote the film industry, therefore no fee would be imposed on it.
