Shady employment: ‘Punjab prosecution dept staff hired illegally’
NAB asked to investigate the matter by the provincial government.
LAHORE:
The Punjab government has asked the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) to investigate hiring practices at the public prosecution department, where allegations have emerged of as many as 2,100 people being granted contract employment in violation of government rules.
The contract employees in question, who were granted permanent employment, are mostly drivers, security guards, office clerks and other support staff who were hired between 2006 and 2008 by then-Prosecutor General Chaudhry Mushtaq Ahmed Khan, without following mandated procedures for government hiring, according to an official who wished to remain anonymous.
The employees were hired soon after the Punjab public prosecutor’s department was set up in October 2005 as an independent organisation to ensure prosecutorial independence, effective and efficient prosecution of criminal cases and better coordination in the criminal justice system in the province under Access to Justice Programme financed by the Asian Development Bank.
The department was meant to be staffed by 3,518 people, of whom 2,225 were to be support personnel. While the prosecutors were hired by the secretary of public prosecutor department, the prosecutor-general was asked to recruit the support personnel. Chaudhry Mushtaq headed the recruitment committee which hired 2,100 of the support staff.
Soon after Chaudhry Mushtaq left his position in 2008, an inquiry was initiated to investigate hiring practices in the department by his successor. The inquiry committee found that none of the required procedures were followed in hiring the staff, with many even submitting fake educational credentials.
Once the employees were hired, no personnel files were maintained, with many files containing only the employee’s offer letter from the department.
In 2010, however, when the Punjab government announced that all contract employees would be given permanent employment, the public prosecutor’s department followed suit, despite the fact that an inquiry had begun uncovering irregularities.
Chaudhry Mushtaq’s successor, Zahid Hussain Bokhari, claims that he had no knowledge of any irregularities in recruitment and that he only regularised employees in compliance with the Punjab government’s policy. “I did not recruit a single person during my tenure as prosecutor general,” he added.
Secretary of the public prosecutor department Muhammad Amlish confirmed the irregularities in recruiting the 2,100 employees and said that the case had been referred to NAB. The fate of those employees would be decided after the NAB investigation is complete, he added.
Malik Sikander, who was additional prosecutor-general during Chaudhry Mushtaq’s tenure and actively involved in the recruiting process, claimed that all hiring was based on merit. “The official record of all recruitment was completed during our tenure it might be misplaced now,” he added.
Published in The Express Tribune, July 4th, 2011.
The Punjab government has asked the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) to investigate hiring practices at the public prosecution department, where allegations have emerged of as many as 2,100 people being granted contract employment in violation of government rules.
The contract employees in question, who were granted permanent employment, are mostly drivers, security guards, office clerks and other support staff who were hired between 2006 and 2008 by then-Prosecutor General Chaudhry Mushtaq Ahmed Khan, without following mandated procedures for government hiring, according to an official who wished to remain anonymous.
The employees were hired soon after the Punjab public prosecutor’s department was set up in October 2005 as an independent organisation to ensure prosecutorial independence, effective and efficient prosecution of criminal cases and better coordination in the criminal justice system in the province under Access to Justice Programme financed by the Asian Development Bank.
The department was meant to be staffed by 3,518 people, of whom 2,225 were to be support personnel. While the prosecutors were hired by the secretary of public prosecutor department, the prosecutor-general was asked to recruit the support personnel. Chaudhry Mushtaq headed the recruitment committee which hired 2,100 of the support staff.
Soon after Chaudhry Mushtaq left his position in 2008, an inquiry was initiated to investigate hiring practices in the department by his successor. The inquiry committee found that none of the required procedures were followed in hiring the staff, with many even submitting fake educational credentials.
Once the employees were hired, no personnel files were maintained, with many files containing only the employee’s offer letter from the department.
In 2010, however, when the Punjab government announced that all contract employees would be given permanent employment, the public prosecutor’s department followed suit, despite the fact that an inquiry had begun uncovering irregularities.
Chaudhry Mushtaq’s successor, Zahid Hussain Bokhari, claims that he had no knowledge of any irregularities in recruitment and that he only regularised employees in compliance with the Punjab government’s policy. “I did not recruit a single person during my tenure as prosecutor general,” he added.
Secretary of the public prosecutor department Muhammad Amlish confirmed the irregularities in recruiting the 2,100 employees and said that the case had been referred to NAB. The fate of those employees would be decided after the NAB investigation is complete, he added.
Malik Sikander, who was additional prosecutor-general during Chaudhry Mushtaq’s tenure and actively involved in the recruiting process, claimed that all hiring was based on merit. “The official record of all recruitment was completed during our tenure it might be misplaced now,” he added.
Published in The Express Tribune, July 4th, 2011.