Bureaucratic matter: Two out of 34 employees seeking regular service get extension

Industries secy says decision on the remaining cases will be taken in view of LHC order

LAHORE: The Industries Department on Monday extended for three years the contract of two of the 34 employees whose petition seeking regularisation of their services is pending a hearing in the Lahore High Court.

The employees whose contract was extended are Muhammad Asif, private secretary at a consumer court in Sialkot, and Muhammad Rizwan Aslam, private secretary at a consumer court in Gujrat.

Speaking on condition of anonymity because their case was still pending a hearing, some of the petitioners told The Express Tribune that work at consumer courts operating in districts where they were in charge of administration had been affected.

Some of these courts had recently been set up in Bhakkar, Mianwali, Rahim Yar Khan, Layyah, Bahawalnagar and Mandi Bahauddin.Industries Secretary Khalid Sher Dil dismissed the suggestion that work in any consumer court had been affected because of the issue. He said said a decision would be taken on the status of the contract of the remaining 37 employees in view of the LHC’s decision in the petition. He refused comment when asked why their contract had been extended when the petition was still pending hearing in the LHC last year. He also refused comment on why the contract of two of the petitioners had been extended for three years.

Of the other petitioners, 11 are registrars at consumer courts, 11 assistant directors (legal) at the District Consumer Protection Councils (DCPC), four assistant directors (legal, admin, budget and chemical, respectively) and one budget superintendent at the Punjab Consumer Protection Council (PCPC) and five private secretaries at consumer courts.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 30^th, 2016.