Punjab employs 13 officers on expired contracts

The officials are pulling strings to convince home secretary and chief minister to grant them a two-year extension.

LAHORE: Thirteen senior officers including the director-general of the directorate of monitoring (DoM) of the Home department are at work, supervising the Punjab Highway Patrol’s (PHP) performance after the expiry of their contracts.

The officials are pulling strings to convince the home secretary and the chief minister to grant them a two-year extension. There are no performance evaluation reports (PER) on record, a direct violation of the Punjab government’s contract appointment policy of 2004 according to which a decision regarding an extension in the contract has to be made on the basis of the PER.  A committee headed by special secretary was constituted to revisit the appointments but it was decided to hire new people, The Express Tribune has learnt. The posts have been advertised in newspapers to induct new officers in grade 17 to 20.

The police department has pitched itself against the monitoring department and asked for its closure. Since the Punjab Highway Patrol (PHP) has an internal monitoring system in place, the directorate’s officers are an unnecessary and expensive duplication. There is a hierarchy of police officers to monitor the PHP’s performance and the adoption of Standard Operating Procedure (SOP). The Punjab government allocated Rs94 million to the directorate in 2010-11. Of the 29 official vehicles with the DoM, one is illegally deployed with a lawmaker, Col Shuja Khanzada and another has been given to DG Forensic Laboratory, Punjab.

The Punjab government set up 450 patrolling posts across the province at the cost of Rs6 billion in 2003. The idea was to ensure crime-free highways and link roads. Later, the posts were increased to 522. At present 302 posts are in operation on various highways and arteries. Two years later, a Programme Management Unit was established with 187 officials headed by a director-general to monitor the PHP’s performance, the DoM’s predecessor.

All the appointments, mostly retired officers from the armed forces, were made during Chaudhary Pervaiz Elahi’s tenure as chief minister Punjab. Apparently none of the officials qualified for the job since they did not meet the requisite criteria mentioned in the advertisement, said an official requesting anonymity.

The PML-N government terminated the contracts of about 2,000 officials hired by Elahi. On the directions of Mian Shahbaz Sharif, 550 posts, four departments and two wings were abolished in 2011.

DG DoM Khalid Bashir Cheema confirmed their contracts had expired in 2010. “When I wrote to the then home secretary for an extension, I was told post facto (backdated) approval would be given.” The police department convinced Nadeem Hasan Asif to disband the directorate. The home department submitted a summary to the chief minister which was approved in August last year. But the home secretary was removed two months later over the poor law and order situation. The chief minister revised his decision after a presentation by the new home secretary, Shahid Khan. The officials were directed to continue with the assurance they would get an extension.

“The directorate monitors the highway patrol via satellite and officers visit various districts to enjoy picnic with families,” said a PHP official who declined to be identified. DSPs head the PHP at the district level and SSPs are deputed in every region. “We have a foolproof monitoring system,” he claimed. Shahid Khan was contacted repeatedly but was not available for comment.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 24^th 2011.