Working on deputation: 924 NHA officers to go back to parent departments, SHC orders

Bench gives four months to government to complete the process

KARACHI: The Sindh High Court gave on Tuesday four months to the federation to ensure that over 900 officers working on deputation at the National Highway Authority (NHA) and Motorway Police (MP) go back to their respective departments.

A two-member bench, headed by Justice Muhammad Shafi Siddiqui, passed the directions after additional attorney general Salman Talibuddin submitted a report on officers posted at the two federal institutions.

As many as 924 civil servants, ranking from constables to inspectors, were currently serving on deputation at the NHA and MP, the report stated. Punjab took the lead with 346 such officers. Of these, 119 were inspectors, 143 were sub-inspectors, 29 were head constables and 55 were constables.

Sindh had the second highest number of such officers at 294, followed by 145 from Balochistan, 84 from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 26 from Azad Jammu Kashmir, 10 from Islamabad police and only eight from Gilgit-Baltistan. The remaining 11 were from other federal institutions.

According to the plaintiff, who is a superintendant at the Motorway Police, the seniority of the departments' native employees was being adversely affected as the aforementioned officers were being deputed there. Their working was in sheer violation of the Supreme Court verdict of 2013 in which the apex court had nullified the deputation process in the province, he added.

Deputation is a process in which a civil servant, serving at a department, can switch to other departments after applying though a proper channel. The authorities can ask a civil servant to move to other departments. This is done with the approval of the provincial chief secretary.

The additional attorney general argued that if the officers are to be sent back to their respective departments, it will leave behind a large vacuum in the NHA and the MP. Instead, he suggested, that a process should be followed in which a post should be filled as soon as it falls vacant.

He submitted that this process needs ample time. Upon which the plaintiff argued that the time frame should be short. The bench observed that within four months, the officers should be sent back to their departments and a report should be submitted in court regarding the progress made.

On the fate of the other 468 deputed uniformed officers who have now been absorbed in the NHA and MP, Talibuddin said that their case was pending before the Federal Services Tribunal. Hence, he sought time for the case to be decided there, before passing any directions on it.

The petitioner opposed, however, this contention saying that the services tribunal heard cases pertaining to the seniority and promotions, and had nothing to do with the main case of deputation and unlawful absorption.

The bench ruled, however, that it needed time to ascertain whether or not the 468 officers were unlawfully absorbed in the two institutions, therefore, their case shall remain pending until the next hearing, whose date is to be decided by the court office.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 2^nd, 2015.