Rescue 1122 promotions raise eyebrows

Administrative dept alleges discrepancies in process

LAHORE:

The functioning of governments, their departments and institutions should ideally not depend on any person or group of persons.

Rather, institutions should work on the basis of principles and meaningful policies.

The individuals owe their services to institutions, not the other way round. However, it is a usual observation that the principles in general are compromised in the working of departments in the country.

An obvious example is the Punjab Emergency Service, also known as Rescue 1122.

In October last year, the department celebrated its 14th anniversary but it is yet to define its rules of business and service structure.

It is a wonder how the department has managed for such a long period of time in the absence of a clearly defined hierarchy, domains and, most importantly, system of promotions.

It was for the first time in 14 years that certain officers of Rescue 1122 were upgraded to the next rank, that too on the basis of the timescale promotion policy of Punjab Government.

However, within a few days, the administrative department of the emergency service raised serious reservations and pointed out discrepancies in the move.

It said that the administrative department had asked Rescue 1122 Director General Rizwan Naseer to furnish the lists. The DG, rather than complying with the instructions, issued the orders of promotion the same day.

Subsequently, a few of the officers were upgraded to grade 19. Interestingly, the Rescue 1122 DG himself is an officer of grade 20.

Furthermore, he not only issued the orders of their promotion but also posted them on the posts of regional emergency officers (REO) that were not sanctioned or mentioned in the budget.

However, the Information Wing of Rescue 1122 defended the move and said that the facts about the Punjab Emergency Service Act and the appointing authority had been clarified by the Lahore High Court.

Accordingly, the director general, after scrutiny of service records by HR Wing, issued the upgradation notification of officers in accordance with a related notification of the finance department and subsequent clarifications, it said. Any further delay would be an injustice with the Rescue 1122 officers who were making efforts to save lives.

This is not the first time that the Rescue 1122 DG was seen daggers drawn on key issues with its administrative department.

A few weeks ago, the department had held an inquiry against certain Rescue 1122 officers for embezzlement of petrol.

However, the Rescue 1122 DG, instead of following the recommendations of the investigation, issued orders of an internal inquiry.

Interestingly, the officer who was being interrogated by the department was the second senior most officer after the DG.

Similarly, in June, the administrative department had issued orders of posting of DEO Ahmad Raza and another Rescue 1122 officer. However, DG Naseer issued them a show-cause notice on the same day. The history of defying or contradicting the home department, the supervisory authority, has been a prolonged issue.

The Rescue 1122 act had two DGs mentioned in it for the Punjab Emergency Service and the Emergency Services Academy. Reportedly, no one knows who had been running the affairs of the academy for one and a half decades in the absence of a DG.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 6^th, 2020.