Sindh govt refuses monthly allowance to PhD holders employees

KARACHI: The Sindh government has decided against paying a monthly allowance of Rs25, 000 to all Ph.D. degree holders employees.

The Ministry of Finance in a letter written to the Sindh law ministry said that the government cannot give a monthly allowance of Rs25, 000 to all employees holding a Ph.D. as directed by Sindh High Court (SHC). The ministry said that it cannot pay additional allowance to govt employees holding Ph.D. degrees as it will put a burden on the provincial exchequer.

Earlier, the Sindh High Court had directed the provincial government that all PhD degree holders be given a monthly allowance of Rs25, 000. The high court gave this order on a petition filed by Dr Liaquat Ali Abro.

The court had directed the Sindh chief secretary to forward a summary to Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah within 15 days’ time for grant of an Rs25,000 monthly allowance to all government employees holding a PhD degree.

It had further instructed that PhD holders working in different departments should be treated on the same footing. The petitioner complained about disparities in PhD allowances saying some PhD holders are being given an Rs25,000 monthly allowance while the others Rs10,000 in the different institutions.

It is worth mentioning here the official records had revealed that the national exchequer suffered a huge financial loss from PhD programme of the Higher Education Commission (HEC).

It stated that the national exchequer suffered a huge financial loss of over Rs1 billion as many of the scholars sent to the United Kingdom (UK), United States (US), Canada, Germany and Australia skipped return. Moreover, 304 persons have failed to get Ph.D. degrees after being sent abroad, said the documents.

According to the Higher Education Commission (HEC), it takes approximately Rs8 million to  Rs10 million to spend on a professor holding PhD degree.

However, the overall financial loss soared to around Rs3 billion to the national exchequer due to those who have never returned to the country or failed to complete their studies.

It further stated that only one out of 500 scholars has returned the funds spent on the PhD studies, whereas, the commission registered cases against others that are being heard by the courts.