PM Office Should Consider Other Candidates For NITB’s Executive Director: IT Ministry

The Ministry of Information Technology and Telecommunication (MoITT) has asked the Prime Minister’s office to consider alternate candidates for the slot of Executive Director (ED) of the National Information Technology Board (NITB).

Sources told ProPakistani that the IT Ministry has asked the PM office to consider an alternate candidate in the panel for the appointment of the ED NITB.

Earlier, the IT Ministry forwarded the names of Sohail Munir, Baber Majid Bhati, and Syed Raza Ali Shah. The cabinet had approved the name of Sohail Munir, but he had not joined the office.

Sources said that the IT Ministry re-submitted the summary on November 4, 2022, to solicit the approval of the Prime Minister to de-notify or withdraw the Establishment Division’s notification dated August 4, 2022, for the appointment of Sohail Munir as ED, NITB.

The ministry also asked the PM office to reconsider other names for the appointment of the ED NITB in terms of Section 5 of the NITB Act, 2022, read with Rule 16(n) of the Rules of Business, 1973, as per the draft summary for the Cabinet. Presently, the IT Ministry has given additional charge of ED NITB to Additional Secretary Ayesha Humara.

According to sources, the NITB has not undertaken any new initiatives in the last two years due to the lack of a permanent ED NITB.

Recently, the National Flood Response Coordination Centre (NFRCC) also wrote a letter with regard to the unsatisfactory performance of the dashboard development by NITB.

Sources said that the IT Ministry has developed the flood-related dashboard, and the NFRCC is currently using it, but the Prime Minister has not inaugurated it so far, and there are chances that the Federal Minister for Planning, Development, and Reform may inaugurate it in the coming days.