Karachi:
The Sindh firm approved a series of key political measures and development initiatives to improve administrative efficiency, reforming education governance, ensuring road safety and preserving the heritage of the province on Thursday.
The meeting of the cabinet, chaired by chief minister Murad Ali Shah, granted the approval of the principle to the proposal of the Department of Incise and Taxation to launch a new vehicle registration system linked to computerized national identity cards (CNIC).
As part of the proposed model, personalized recording numbers will be assigned to vehicle owners rather than chassis numbers, allowing owners to keep their registration plates even after having sold their vehicles.
Officials have said that the initiative, which aligned themselves with international practices, would improve monitoring, would facilitate tax compliance and improve vehicle ownership files.
The firm also approved the necessary legal changes to implement the CNIC -based registration framework and ordered the ministry to launch a pilot project before deploying it in the province.
Find out more: Sindh Govt moves to cut the powers of education powers
The firm also approved the creation of vehicle fitness centers for commercial vehicles across the province. The centers will be set up by Wah Industries Limited, with the first phase covering Karachi, Hyderabad and Sukkur. Other centers will be established in other districts in the following phases.
Legal changes will be introduced to make fitness certification compulsory for commercial vehicles, while private vehicles will not be subject to the same requirement.
The cabinet also gave a sign of an approval head for a procedural mechanism to record government vehicles with a modified chassis or confiscated units, allowing the federal and provincial agencies to record these vehicles under designated series. A committee led by the Minister of Accoise will finalize the legal framework.
The cabinet sanctioned a new resurvey of 3,371 historic buildings in the province, many of which would be in poor condition. An amount of 20 million rupees was allocated on the initiative. Expert committees will be created to assess the condition of each site and recommend the necessary catering and conservation measures.
Read also: Iba Sukkur to lead MDCAT in the Sindh
The firm also admitted an amendment to the rules governing educational advice, allowing BS-19 and BS-20 officers to be appointed as presidents. Earlier, only BS-21 officers were eligible for the position. This decision aims to facilitate the bottlenecks of recruitment and to improve administrative efficiency in the education sector.
The provincial cabinet has signed a new policy concerning the medical and dental college admission test (MDCAT), reappearing the responsibility for examining the University of Sukkur IBA under the provisions of the PMDC law, 2022.
According to the new rules, candidates will be required to provide a home, a juvenile card or a biometric verification of the Sindh to appear for the test. The entry and merit criteria will strictly comply with the regulations of Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC).
The officials said that the decision to reassign the MDCAT to Sukkur IBA had been taken into account of the need for standardization and administrative continuity.
