Ministries’ devolution: Deputed officials to be sent back

ISLAMABAD: The Establishment Division on Sunday directed federal employees deputed in ministries set to be devolved to the provinces to return to their original ministries. The ministries are expected to devolve by the last week of February.

Official sources said a large number of people are currently working on deputation in the federal ministries of social welfare and special education, culture, environment, education and health. As per the Establishment Division’s directives, these officials are to report back to their original ministries.

They will be sent to a “surplus pool” if their native ministries are unable to accommodate them.

Earlier in a meeting of the parliamentary commission chaired by Senator Raza Rabbani along with chief secretaries of the four provinces, matters related to the second phase of devolution of ministers and the future of federal employees were discussed.

The provincial secretaries stated that they will adopt the ministries, along with their running projects, under the 18th Amendment. However, according to official sources, the provinces are reluctant to accommodate the federal employees as employees of ministries devolved in the first phase are yet to be accommodated.

The Federal Secretary Environment Khawaja Naeem earlier told a parliamentary committee on Saturday said that the environment ministry has not been formally intimated from the concerned authorities of plan for the ministry’s devolution.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 14^th, 2011.