Case of secretariat employees: Centre claims it was not consulted by provinces

PTI govt says revision of packages without consultation is unprecedented and against norms

ISLAMABAD: Federal government has alleged that provinces have bypassed it in revising pay and salary packages of their secretariat employees, which is unprecedented and against the norms.

The federal secretariat employees had been staging protests for several days to revise their pay packages to bring them at par with the provincial secretariat employees, which became an embarrassment for the federal government.

While briefing the cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Imran Khan, Adviser to Prime Minister on Finance Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh said that revision of pay packages of secretariat employees by the provinces without consultation with the federal government was unprecedented and against the norms.

The Finance Division will, however, holistically review the pay package for federal government employees and propose revisions in the upcoming budget, Shaikh said.

The majority of cabinet members were of the view that although the demand of federal secretariat employees, to revise pay packages at par with provinces, had its merit the decision should not be made by caving in to pressure as it would set a wrong precedent.

The cabinet members acknowledged that the difference in salaries was not just stoking discontentment and apathy among the federal secretariat employees but was also the reason behind federal government losing capable officers to the provincial governments. Some of the cabinet members also highlighted the parallel salary structures within the federal government, which is adding to the disgruntlement of deprived employees. Adviser to the Prime Minister on Institutional Reforms and Austerity Dr Ishrat Husain informed that the matter was discussed in the Secretaries’ Committee, and subsequently by the Implementation Committee on Institutional Reforms, which forwarded two options to the Finance Division, where it was still pending.

Before taking up the formal agenda, the minster for education and professional training drew the attention of the members of cabinet to the ongoing protest by the employees of Federal Secretariat. It was brought to the notice of the cabinet that the provincial governments had given handsome additional allowances to their officers and staff, which had resultantly caused disparity in pay packages compared to the Federal Secretariat.

Updating on removal of “balloting clause” from recruitment rules of Grade 1 to 5 employees, the cabinet secretary informed that the approval of cabinet had been obtained through circulation and the Establishment Division would be issuing the revised policy.

At this point some of the cabinet members pointed to the mushrooming of second-rate testing agencies, which were flouting merit and promoting corrupt practices. It was highlighted that PPRA Rules bind the organisations to select the lowest bidding testing agency, which resulted in compromising on quality. It was further pointed out that candidates had to deposit fees multiple times for similar nature of positions as each organisation had different testing agency. This prohibitive fee structure needed to be reviewed by introducing a standardised test so as to ease the burden on poor applicants.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 5^th, 2020.

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