PM office employees get three-month honorarium

Notification for payment was earlier withdrawn but former cabinet approved it silently

ISLAMABAD: The outgoing federal cabinet of prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi quietly favoured the employees of Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) by granting them an unwarranted honorarium equivalent to three basic salaries despite previously discarding this plan.

In the last federal cabinet meeting held on May 31, the huddle granted approval for payment of honorarium to the PMO overlooking its decision to grant the special allowance only to the employees of those federal government entities that were involved in the preparation of federal budget 2018.

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The cabinet on Thursday declared that the then PM Abbasi’s decision to pay honorarium equivalent to three-month basic pay to ‘all the federal government employees’ was not implementable and that the employees of the Finance Ministry, the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR), the Planning Commission and the Economic Affairs Division (EAD) were entitled to it due to their involvement in budget making.

The cabinet took this decision approving agenda item no 15 ‘grant of honorarium to the specified federal government employees’ moved by the Finance Division in a summary prepared on May 29.

Subsequently, the cabinet approved allocation of Rs3 billion for the payment of honorarium to 12,000 employees of the aforementioned federal government entities.

However, the minutes of the cabinet meeting, a copy of which is available with The Express Tribune, revealed that the meeting also approved the payment of the honorarium to the employees of the PMO.

“Minister of Finance may approve honorarium to the Prime Minister’s Office, Finance, Revenue and Planning, Development and Reforms Division,” read the related part of the minutes of cabinet meeting held Thursday. Sources said employees of the PMO are not involved in the preparation of budget.

“It is strange that the PMO employees are rewarded for budget making which is the job of other departments and ministries. It sounds like a move by Abbasi to appease the employees of the office he directly headed,” said a senior government official, requesting anonymity.

According to the government figures, total number of the PMO employees is 833 including 801 regular and 32 contractual employees from basic pay scale 1 to 22. The official figures suggest that the PMO hired 90 employees in the outgoing financial year 2017-18.

In the new financial year 2018-19 starting from July 1, number of the PMO employees would be 840 including 807 regular and 33 contractual employees. In the last financial year 2016-17, the PMO had 743 employees; 710 permanent and 10 contractual employees, the official data suggests.

On May 25, Abbasi approved honorarium equivalent to three basic pays for ‘all the federal government employees’ in the outgoing financial year 2017-18 ending on June 30. He issued the order in his capacity as chairman of the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC).



“The PM has seen and is pleased to order that all employees of the federal government shall be given honorarium equivalent to three basic pays for financial year 2017-18. No exception shall be allowed for payment in excess of ceiling in any case,” said a notice issued by former secretary to PM Fawad Hasan Fawad.

“The PM has further desired that for financial year 2018-19 onwards a policy may be formulated by the new elected government after elections 2018,” the notification said.

However, the notification had to be withdrawn after the Finance Ministry said the payment of honorarium to all federal government employees was not possible due to financial constraints.

The recently retired federal cabinet also took certain decisions that raised eyebrows including 100 per cent increase in the salary of the president of Pakistan by fixing the president’s basic pay at Rs 846,550, increasing the salary of PM and increasing perks and privileges for the NA speaker and Senate chairman.