ISLAMABAD, Jun 06 (APP): The Senate Standing Committee on Science and Technology in a meeting held on Tuesday directed the officials concerned to resolve the longstanding issues pertaining to the Ministry of Science and Technology and COMSATS University Islamabad (CUI)
The meeting was held under the chairmanship of Senator Muhammad Shafiq Tareen at the Ministry of Science and Technology.
While taking briefing by Prof. Dr Sajid Qamar, Acting Rector CUI regarding fixing salaries of regular employees and daily wagers/contract employees according to federal government Basic Pay Scales, the Chairman committee remarked that an internal meeting between the staff and the administration must be conducted to reach a settlement on salaries.
While making a comparison between the salaries of the government basic pay scale (BPS) 2022 and CUI Pay scale 2021 is variant and inconsistent.
The administration of the university pledged that the salaries are being based and settled on the basis of available funds, however, a meeting would be conducted to resolve the matter.
Similarly, on the matter of assigning interim charge as Acting Registrar and regaining Treasurer, after completion of his
term, the Chairman committee said that the information provided by the ministry in this regard is incomplete and sought more detail on the subject matter.
It was apprised that the Senate CUI has drafted the summary and put up the case in the Prime Minister’s office.
On the matter of budget status for Fiscal Year 2022-2023 regarding its approval from the competent authority ( CUI Senate ), it was apprised that the CUI budget is approved by the Senate of CUI after its approval by Finance and Planning Committee (F&PC), syndicate and Senate.
The committee while vetting the classification of the budget raised questions on the other charges of Rs. 3,219.496 million.
The committee deferred the matter observing that the details of the budget are incomplete and sought complete details including details pertaining to other charges of 3,219 million rupees.
Chairman committee while inquiring about the establishment of CUI, at Quetta campus it was apprised that temporary premises of PCSIR Labs, Quetta are being established in PCSIR labs.
It was apprised that Secretary MoST has written a letter to the Chief Secretary, Government of Balochistan.
The committee lamented the delay in the establishment of the university while the ministry recommended that only the cost of 146.215 million and the budget is available.
The ministry recommended the committee immediately write a letter to the minister to expedite the matter as soon as possible since its establishment at the moment is possible due to the availability of required finance.
Similarly, the Ministry apprised of the budgetary proposal related to the Public Sector Development Program (PSDP) for the financial year ( 2023-2024).
The Secretary MoST briefed the committee that it demanded a budget of 10.1 billion rupees however a budget of 7.5 billion rupees has been approved, however, it was proposed that another one billion should be added to the budget so that the ministry can perform at its best.
The committee was apprised that there are a total of 32 ongoing projects, and 09 new projects with a total cost of rupees 26496.567 and 12982.602 million respectively.
The Committee also took up the matter pertaining to employment issues, including promotion/demotion, and release of salary, of an Assistant Professor of CUI.
After hearing both parties the committee directed the Acting Rector CUI to revisit the matter with an open heart and submit the review report to this committee in seven days.
Earlier in the meeting, the meetings deliberated upon the current progress of recovery from cement companies which were fined/penalized.
It was briefed that the Cement products were included in the mandatory of PSQCA (the OPC in 1982, SRC in 1988, and Slag Cement in 1992).
It was briefed that the cement industry is not paying the marking fee to PSQCA for the last 15 years with outstanding dues to the cement industry of Rs 4500 million till June 2022, most of the cement industries have failed to pay the said amount.
The committee failed to understand why the PSQCA has not imposed a fine on any cement unit as yet.
The committee also raised serious questions on the vacant seat of the DG PSQCA for one and a half years.
The committee apprehended malafide intention on the part of the PSQCA and recommended taking proper steps and involvement of the Attorney General of the Supreme Court central to the matter.
The meeting was attended by Senators Sana Jamali, Kamran Murtaza, Engr Rukhsana Zuberi, Dr Afnan Ullah Khan and Senator Anwar uk Haq Kakar. Senior officials of other attached departments were also in attendance.
