Punjab government: Lucrative contracts for retired civil servants continue

Appointments appear to violate federal law, Supreme Court directives.

LAHORE: The Punjab government continues to employ at least 11 retired bureaucrats on lucrative contracts in apparent violation of Supreme Court directives and federal law.

The provincial government had earlier dismissed nine retired bureaucrats who had been employed in a similar fashion in order to comply with an order from the Supreme Court because their appointment violated the Reemployment Policy of 2003 and Contract Appointment Policy of 2004, which govern the matter of bureaucratic staffing.

The laws restrict hiring of retired bureaucrats to those under the age of 63. Yet most of the 11 men in question are significantly older than that age. One person retired as far back as 2001 and is currently 70 years old.

The retired bureaucrats currently still employed come from a wide variety of service backgrounds – ranging from the district management group, the police, the military and even legislative aides.

Each one is currently serving in a high-ranking position in the provincial government and receiving lucrative compensation and benefits packages. Most of the bureaucrats are living in government housing in the upscale Golf Road area of Lahore.

Many of the appointments seem to be part of the ongoing political tussle between the Sharif family and the Chaudhry family of Gujrat.

According to sources familiar with the matter, many of the bureaucrats currently serving beyond their retirement age are said to be loyal to the Sharif family and the PML(N), which had caused them to be sidelined from 2001 to 2008, when the PML(Q) ran the provincial government. As many as 25 senior bureaucrats may be serving beyond their legally permissible age.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 12^th, 2011.