Khyber Pakthunkhwa cabinet with Chief Minister Mahmood Khan in chair here on Wednesday approved two years relaxation in the upper age limit of youth enabling them to appear in upcoming Provincial Management Service (PMS) examination.
The KP Cabinet extended the upper age limit for PMS exams upto two-years as previous year’s exams were delayed due to corona pandemic. This would provide an opportunity to the candidates who crossed the age limit to get a chance to appear in the upcoming PMS exams.
Kamran Bangash, Special Assistant to the Chief Minister for Information and Higher Education told media that about 10,000 to 15,000 youth of KP would be directly benefited from this landmark decision of the KP Cabinet.
He said Chief Minister Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Mahmood Khan has directed the authorities concerned to ease restrictions by relaxing Rules and Regulations to facilitate investors with the aim to attract more investors in the province and create jobs opportunities for jobless youth as per the vision of Prime Minister Imran Khan.
The Chief Minister also directed the concerned authorities to take necessary steps to fix a maximum age limit for each category of government jobs so that the candidates applying for jobs did not go round the offices for age relaxation.
He directed the Cabinet Committee, set up to streamline matters related to private testing agencies, to finalize its recommendations in this regard at the earliest. He further directed that tests conducted by private testing agencies for the recruitment of government employees should be confined to screening of candidates only.
The CM further directed the committee to make workable recommendations for strengthening the government testing agencies and especially the Public Service Commission so that the long pending vacancies in the Public Service Commission could be filled on priority.
The Chief Minister also directed the concerned authorities to take necessary steps to utilize the unused land of the golf course in Kabal area of Swat for construction of a park and other developmental projects in the best public interest.
The Cabinet also approved appointment of Vice Chancellors for a period of three-years for seven public sector universities. This included Prof. Gul Majid Khan for Islamia College University Peshawar, Prof. Dr. Amin Badshah for University of Buner, Prof. Dr. Zahir Shah for Chitral, Prof. Muhammad Jahanzeb Khan for FATA University, Prof. Dr. Ghazala Jamal for Women’s University Mardan, Dr. Zia-ul-Haq for Khyber Medical University Peshawar and Prof. Dr. Nasir Jamal Khattak for Swabi University.
The Cabinet, after a detailed discussion on the proposed rules for prevention of vagrancy, constituted a committee headed by the Law Minister to further improve these rules.
The Cabinet also approved the appointment of 11 non-official members for the Commission on Women’s status. The meeting also approved few necessary amendments in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Medical Transplantation Regulatory Authority Act to fix a minimum fine of Rs five million and a maximum of Rs ten million for illegal transplantation of human organs with imprisonment of 14-year.
The Cabinet gave approval to Model By-Laws for setting up Fruit and Vegetable Markets in the province and tasked to the Provincial Minister for Local Government to further improve these by-laws.
The Cabinet also approved the reinstatement of the Provincial Levies Force Rules 2013 with some necessary amendments to remove complications in age limit for retirement of levies in the province and the removal of complications hindering their promotions.
In addition, the meeting 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 import of two to three million metric tons through the Trading Corporation of Pakistan.
The meeting recommended to the federal government to allow the private sector to import sugar and to ensure regular supply of sugar to utility stores across the province.
The provincial cabinet approved nomination of educationist Dr. Efat Ara and Major (retd) Dr. Abdul Hafeez Khan Niazi from the civil society for the private members of the Board of Governors of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Higher Education Academy Research and Training.
The meeting formed a committee for the proposed allowance of the Education Monitoring Authority, which would consist of Finance Minister Taimur Saleem Jhagra and Education Minister Shahram Tarakai.
The Cabinet directed to prepare recommendations for extension of lease period of government lands. The lease of government lands would be increased from 15 years to a minimum of 33 years and a maximum of 99 years.
The Cabinet was briefed on the procurement strategy for flour, sugar and wheat. It also approved the appointment of two non-official members for the Board of Governors of the Higher Education Academy for Research and Training.
Apart from the members of the provincial cabinet, the meeting was also attended by the Chief Secretary, Additional Chief Secretary and administrative Secretaries of the concerned departments.
