11 Hyderabad Municipal Corporation officials reverted to original pay scales

Official source says most of the reverted officers lacked qualification, experience in respective fields

HYDERABAD: Following the Supreme Court-mandated water commission's orders, the Sindh local government department has reverted 11 officials of the

Hyderabad Municipal Corporation working on BS-16 to BS-18 grades. Although the action has been taken citing the commission's order and earlier judgments of the apex court concerning deputation and own pay scale promotions, reportedly around four dozen employees are working on deputation in the corporation.

Through a notification dated September 6, local government secretary Khalid Hyder Shah reverted 11 officials of HMC and sent back one of them to his parent department.



The BS-18 legal adviser Mukaram Khan has been reverted to BS-5 Typist, BS-17 health director Rafique Ahmed Rajput to BS-5 Junior Clerk, BS-17 taxation officer Abdul Wahab Rajput to BS-1 Naib Qasid, BS-17 Prosecuting Officer Altaf Baig to BS-5, BS-17 Chief Fire Officer Muhammad Yonus to BS-5 and BS-17 Assistant Director Health Aqeel Ahmed Khanzada to BS-6.

Similarly, two BS-16 office superintendents and a BS-16 assistant director for land have been moved back to BS-6 and BS-5 grades. One of them, Abdul Muqeem Shaikh, has been sent back to his parent department - the District Council Hyderabad.

All 11 officers have been reverted to the grades in which they were posted in 1994. According to another notification, the HMC has been directed to form a departmental promotion committee and process the promotion cases in accordance with the rules.

"Only a select group of officials have been targeted because if the action was in light of the Supreme Court's order [in criminal original petition number 89/2011], around 47 staff of the HMC who have come from other departments would also have been repatriated," an official, who is among those 11, said while requesting anonymity.

"The municipal commissioner [of HMC] Nasrullah Abbassi himself has been given the charge in violation of the apex court's order," he said, pointing out that he is a BS-18 officer holding the BS-19 charge. The former municipal commissioner Shahid Ali Khan had reportedly written to the local government authorities to send back around four dozen staff working in HMC to their parent departments.

On July 5, the water commission had ordered an inquiry into the promotions of these officials, following which the inquiry committee on August 29 concluded its findings and recommended the reversions.

An official source, who also requested to remain anonymous, said most of the reverted officers lacked qualification and experience in their respective fields. "Rafique Ahmed Rajput held the acting charge of Health Director while in official documents he was posted as secretary to the mayor. But he is not an MBBS doctor," said the source.