Where there’s a will: FBR changes rules to re-hire 550 sacked PRAL employees

Employees had been terminated for being ‘dishonest and incompetent’

ISLAMABAD: In a questionable move, tax authorities have changed rules to reemploy at least 550 people who were fired a couple of years ago from Pakistan Revenue Automation Private Limited (PRAL) on charges of being “dishonest and incompetent”.

The 550 people - fired by the previous management of the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) - are almost half the current strength of PRAL, one of the board’s subsidiary responsible for managing data of federal and provincial taxpayers. And an internal assessment of the department showed that there was no need to go for fresh hiring.

The decision to reemploy the sacked employees was taken by PRAL’s board of directors, most of whom are on FBR payroll. The board approved the changes in employment rules for rehiring despite the opposition from the FBR Member of Information Technology, according to sources.

The Supreme Court has already rejected a petition filed by the terminated employees and FBR’s decision to rehire them would create doubts about its legitimacy, said the sources.



FBR spokesman Dr Mohammad Iqbal, however, defended the decision, saying that anyone sacked on charges of dishonesty and incompetency would not be rehired automatically. “They will have to apply for periodically advertised posts.” He added, “There is a perception that their dismissal was unjustified.”

PRAL’s board has formed a three-member committee - comprising Member Customs, Member Legal and Member Information Technology - to reconsider such cases.

Among those terminated included the then chief executive officer and eight chief managers of PRAL.  Just seven per cent of the sacked employees belonged to the management and technical cadres while the rest were support staff.

As many as 260 former PRAL employees are in litigations before various forums, having challenged their termination orders. They had been fired after performance reviews, according to the sources.



Main allegations against the sacked employees were favouritism and nepotism in the hiring process. It was also alleged that their promotions and increments were neither transparent nor on merit.

The sacked employees had also been blatantly violating their service contracts, according to an inquiry conducted before their sacking. Some of them were asked to resign just to be rehired the very next day on higher grades and pays, bypassing all promotion rules.

The number of vacancies approved by PRAL’s board of directors was transgressed by hiring hundreds of employees in excess.

Rejecting the terminated employees’ plea, the Supreme Court had set up a commission which highlighted absence of due diligence, lack of transparency and mismanagement in PRAL.



The top court had suggested that the employees of PRAL, a private limited company registered with the SECP, were not government servants and not covered under the rules and policies applicable to government servants.

The Federal Tax Ombudsman, in orders over various complaints, held the performance of PRAL as substandard and its systems faulty, insecure and unreliable. It also declared FBR guilty of maladministration. The current approved strength of PRAL employees is 1,200 which is far above the requirement, they said.