Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Chaudhry Fawad Hussain has passed orders for verifying the academic qualifications of employees from Pakistan Television Corporation (PTV) and Radio Pakistan appointed after 2008.
The Information Minister will be constituting a board to oversee this task. The board will comprise of three members who will be responsible for carrying out verification of degrees of PTV and Radio Pakistan employees within a month.
He also stated that the Director General Internal Publicity Wing shall head the board and a representative from the Higher Education Commission (HEC) shall also be a part of the board to facilitate the process.
Moreover, the process of degree verification will begin from the senior officers and all employees will have to pass through it, as per the directives.
The employees whose degrees cannot be verified will have to refund their received salaries. Furthermore, notices will be issued to those responsible for such appointments.
It is pertinent to mention here that last month, the government decided to withdraw its plans to lease out Radio Pakistan’s premises amid strong protests by the employees.
The move was initiated due to the state-run broadcaster’s dismal financial situation.
However, the government decided to postpone the decision till one month, during which Radio Pakistan’s management will provide suggestions to improve its performance.
Further Directives
The Information Minister had announced the lifting of curbs related to political censorship at state-run media organizations.
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He also promised that people will see drastic changes in the Information Department in the coming months. In his tweet, soon after having assigned the information ministry, he stated,
“As per vision of @ImranKhanPTI Ended political censorship on PTV, clear instructions issued for a complete editorial independence on PTV and Radio Pakistan, drastic changes will be visible in Information Dept in coming 3 months Inshallah.”
