Latest news with #PunjabEmployeesEfficiency
Express Tribune
19-05-2025
- Business
- Express Tribune
Tax shortfall prompts excise to step up recovery
At high tax rates, profit margins for sellers decrease, leaving them with options to pass on the burden to consumers, compromise on the quality of products, evade taxes or find cheaper illicit goods. photo: file The Excise, Taxation and Narcotics Control Department has intensified its commercial and domestic property tax recovery campaign in the Rawalpindi zone following a 55 per cent shortfall in property, professional, and luxury tax collections. In a move to accelerate collections, the secretary of excise and taxation has imposed an immediate ban on transfers and leave for excise inspectors and field staff until June 30. Property tax offices will also remain open on weekends throughout the month of June. The director general of excise and taxation has issued strict directives to ensure all tax targets are met by the end of June. Property tax collections in Rawalpindi, Attock, Chakwal, and Jhelum districts are reportedly 5054 per cent below targets, while the newly designated tourist district of Murree, known as Malika Kohsar, has recorded a shortfall of up to 60 per cent. In response, the department has launched a large-scale operation, sealing 126 defaulting property units and recovering a total of Rs2.89 million in outstanding taxes. Seven excise and taxation officers in the Rawalpindi Zone have been served show-cause notices under the Punjab Employees Efficiency, Discipline and Accountability (PEEDA) Act for failing to meet recovery targets and may face dismissal.
Express Tribune
19-05-2025
- Health
- Express Tribune
Nishtar officials to face action over HIV case
A joint inquiry committee has submitted its findings to the chief minister of Punjab following an investigation into the infection of 31 dialysis patients with HIV at Nishtar Hospital. The inquiry has recommended disciplinary action against several officials, including the removal of Vice Chancellor of Nishtar Medical University, Dr Mehnaz Khakwani, for administrative negligence. The recommendations, made under the Punjab Employees Efficiency, Discipline and Accountability (PEDA) Act, follow directives from Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz Sharif. The case came to light in October 2024 when over 20 dialysis patients were initially found to be HIV positive. That number later rose to 31 over four months after further screenings. Following the outbreak, the provincial government suspended key medical staff including Dr Ghulam Abbas, former Head of Nephrology; Dr Muhammad Kazim, former Medical Superintendent (MS) of Nishtar Hospital; and faculty members Dr Poonam Khalid and Dr Maleeha Johar. Head Nurse Naheed Parveen and Dr Alamgir Malik were also suspended, while a formal PEDA inquiry was initiated in December 2024. As per the inquiry report, Vice Chancellor Dr Khakwani failed to implement and monitor standard operating procedures (SOPs) across the hospital, and did not take timely action after the incident surfaced. As a result, the committee has recommended her removal and one-year suspension from public service. Former Head of Nephrology Dr Ghulam Abbas has been accused of withholding information about HIV-positive cases and failing to issue necessary written directives. The committee has recommended his compulsory retirement. Dr Poonam Khalid, Associate Professor of Nephrology, is alleged to have been frequently absent and negligent in ward management. A three-year demotion and a fine equal to one month's basic salary have been recommended in her case. The committee found that Dr Muhammad Kazim, the former MS, failed to promptly address the outbreak and was appointed without proper process as an 18-grade officer in a 20-grade position. The committee has recommended censure and withholding of his annual increment for one year. Meanwhile, Dr. Maleeha Johar, Dr. Alamgir Malik, and Head Nurse Naheed Parveen were acquitted of charges. Separately, the Pakistan Medical Association (PMA) Multan has raised concerns about the integrity of the inquiry. In an emergency meeting chaired by Dr Masoodur Rauf Haraj, the PMA alleged that the inquiry failed to determine how the virus was transmitted and focused instead on penalizing Nishtar Medical University's first female Vice Chancellor. The PMA claimed that the inquiry report may have been influenced by a senior university officer with alleged aspirations to become the next vice chancellor. According to the association, this officer reportedly had connections with the inquiry convener and predicted the report's contents in advance. The PMA also pointed out that no genetic sequencing has been conducted to confirm whether HIV transmission occurred through dialysis procedures, and questioned the absence of action against unauthorised medical practitioners.
Express Tribune
30-03-2025
- General
- Express Tribune
Absentee professors to face music
The college education sector across Punjab has been affected by the absence of professors from their duties, prompting the provincial higher education department to take action against them. According to sources in the sector, the students are facing difficulties in completing their courses because of the absence of professors of computer, science and language subjects. The sources said that around 40 assistant professors in various districts had remained absent from their duties for the past year and the Punjab Higher Education Department had appeared helpless to address the problem. They said the department was set to start taking action against the professors remaining absent from their duties. The problem is more severe in the districts where students rely completely on the college teachers for their education. The issue of teachers remaining absent from their duties is especially serious in South Punjab and remote districts where professors of science, mathematics and computer science fail to take classes. The students of science subjects, including those of BS, are the worst affected. The sources in the higher education department said information about around 40 such assistant professors from various districts had come to the knowledge of the authorities and departmental action would soon be initiated against them. "These 40 assistant professors have been absent from their duties for the past many months. They also include female professors. We sent them a final warning to join their duties," said a senior official of the Punjab Higher Education Department. The official said complaints against such teachers had also been received from students and their parents. The department will protect the interest of the students by taking action under the Punjab Employees Efficiency, Discipline and Accountability Act (PEEDA), the official said. He said the department would also take action against the principals of the colleges in which the professors habitually skipped classes. However, an office-bearer of a college professors' union said the majority of the teachers had been absent from duties because of their transfer to remote districts after their promotion as assistant professors. He said most of the teachers found absent were those who had been promoted about six months ago and later transferred to other, remote districts. "How can a woman or a senior professor in old age and in the presence of their families afford to go to a district 300km away? It is mismanagement on the part of the higher education department that it transferred professors to remote districts, because of which they are not willing to join their new duties and the students suffer because the teaches are not available in classes," said a female professor. A former president of the Punjab Professors and College Lecturers Association, Dr Tariq Kaleem, said, "It is the right of the professors to be promoted, but it is not fair to transfer them to faraway districts." He said there was a need for the department to implement a formula for the promotion of college teachers under which the posts of the promoted teachers were upgraded in the colleges in which they were currently serving.
Express Tribune
09-02-2025
- Express Tribune
Education department penalises 881 staff
RAWALPINDI: The Punjab's Education Department has said it penalised 881 officers and staff members from grades 1 to 16 following disciplinary inquiries under the Punjab Employees Efficiency, Discipline, and Accountability (PEDA) Act over the past year. The inquiries, conducted from March 2024 to January 31, 2025, resulted in various actions against teaching and non-teaching staff. According to official data, 263 employees were found guilty and dismissed from service, 11 were forced into early retirement, and six were immediately terminated. Additionally, six employees had their service tenure revoked, while 35 were fined an amount equivalent to one month's salary. Furthermore, 24 employees faced frozen annual increments, 107 were issued substantial fines, and 201 were given final warnings. Meanwhile, 228 employees were exonerated. The year 2024 turned out to be extremely "disappointing" and "educationally disastrous" for the Punjab Education Department in terms of controversial policies, especially privatisation. Teachers and non-teaching staff remained on continuous strikes against the government's academic policies. Record holidays in educational institutions were also recorded last year. The year also witnessed an alarming rise in the sale of government schools, mass dismissals of teachers, and rationalisation.
