PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa cabinet on Wednesday approved two years extension in the upper age limit for the Provincial Management Service (PMS) examination to benefit the aspirants, who have become overage due to a pandemic-induced delay in the holding of the exam.

Chief Minister Mahmood Khan presided over the cabinet meeting, which was attended by ministers, his advisers, and administrative secretaries.

Spokesman for the government Kamran Khan Bangash said in a video briefing that the cabinet granted the PMS exam age relaxation on the demand of the youth, who couldn’t sit the exam due to a delay caused by the coronavirus pandemic before becoming overage.

He said the move would benefit 10,000-15,000 youth across the province.

Asks centre to allow private sector to import sugar

The provincial assembly had formally pushed the provincial government last month for extending the upper age limit for the PMS exam by two years.

Mr Bangash said the cabinet also approved the appointment of the regular vice-chancellors to seven public sector universities of the province for three years.

The VCs included Prof Gul Majid Khan for Islamia College University Peshawar, Prof Amin Badshah for University of Buner, Prof Zahir Shah for University of Chitral, Prof Mohammad Jahanzeb Khan for Fata University Kohat, Prof Ghazala Jamal for Women University Mardan, Dr Ziaul Haq for Khyber Medical University Peshawar and Prof Nasir Jamal Khattak for Swabi University.

The spokesman said the government had approved the appointment of VCs to 16 universities in the province during the last few weeks, while the director would be appointed to IMSciences Peshawar very soon.

He revealed that the chief minister asked the cabinet committee tasked with making recommendations on the role of private testing agencies in the public sector recruitment for the early completion of the task.

The committee was formed over the complaints of irregularities in tests conducted by the private testing agencies for the provincial government jobs.

Mr Mahmood said the tests conducted by private testing agencies for the recruitment of government employees should be restricted to the screening of candidates.

He directed the committee to make ‘workable’ recommendations to strengthen the government testing agencies, especially public service commission, for the early filling of vacancies. The chief minister asked the relevant departments to fix the maximum age limit for every category of government jobs to prevent aspirants from trouble.

Mr Bangash said the cabinet also approved the proposed amendments to the KP Medical Transplantation Regulatory Authority Bill to fix the minimum fine for the illegal transplantation of human organs at Rs5 million, the maximum at Rs10 million, and jail term at 14 years.

It also approved the purchase of seven to eight million metric tons of wheat from Passco to meet the wheat demand in the coming days and the import of two to three million metric tons of wheat through the Trading Corporation of Pakistan.

The cabinet recommended to the federal government to allow the private sector to import sugar and ensure smooth sugar supply to utility stores across the province.

The chief minister also directed the authorities to take necessary steps to utilise unused land of the Kabal golf course in Swat for the development of a park.

The cabinet also formed a committee headed by the law minister to improve the proposed rules for the prevention of vagrancy, and approved appointment of 11 non-official members to the Commission on the Women’s Status and model bylaws for the establishment of fruit and vegetable markets in the province.

A committee consisting of finance minister Taimur Saleem Jhagra and education minister Shahram Tarakai was set up on the proposed allowance for the Education Monitoring Authority.

The cabinet ordered the formulation of recommendations for the extension of lease period for government land in the province. The lease of such land will be increased from 15 years to the minimum 33 years and maximum 99 years.

The cabinet was briefed on the strategy for flour, sugar and wheat procurement, while it approved the appointment of two non-official members to the board of governors of the Higher Education Academy for Research and Training.

Published in Dawn, February 25th, 2021