Imran's govt seeks solution to illegal hiring issue

The government has referred the matter of 799 illegal appointments to the Cabinet Committee on Institutional Reforms and sought its recommendations for a legally viable solution.

Sources told The Express Tribune that the Establishment Division had identified 299 appointments that had been made without following the set procedure during the tenures of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) governments.

Of these, 201 appointments were made before elections in 2018 whereas 93 appointments were finalised during the current PTI government after polls. Five appointments were made for an interim period.

Of the total, 500 people had been appointed in the Airport Security Force without following the set procedure.

The government had directed the Establishment Division secretary to refer the matter to the Cabinet Committee on Institutional Reforms for discussion and recommending a legally viable solution.

The Establishment Division informed the cabinet, in a meeting held in May 2020, that a committee had been constituted to examine and finalise the list of appointments (including regular, additional charges, current charges, look-after charges, board positions, etc) made without the approval of the federal cabinet since August 18, 2016.

It was apprised that the committee had prepared the final report on the appointments made without the approval of the federal government, as identified by the ministries and divisions. The Establishment Division placed the report for consideration of the federal cabinet.

During the discussion, the prime minister expressed dismay over the grant of acting, additional and look-after charges by different divisions, which undermined the decision-making process and adversely impacted governance matters.

Cabinet members were of the unanimous view that ad hoc arrangements should be discouraged and restrained to cases of extreme urgency and that too for a short period only.

The example of State Life Insurance Corporation was quoted as it had remained without a regular CEO for almost two years.

The law minister advised against granting ex-post facto approval to the irregular appointments, saying it would be in contravention of the Supreme Court’s judgment in the Mustafa Impex case.

He was of the opinion that those positions needed to be filled afresh after publishing advertisements, where required. It was suggested that the matter be referred to the Cabinet Committee on Institutional Reforms for discussion and recommending a legally viable solution.

The cabinet, in its meeting held on September 1, considered a summary titled “Appointments made without the approval of the federal government as identified by the ministries/divisions”, dated August 13, 2020, and submitted by the Establishment Division.

It directed the Establishment Division secretary to refer the matter to the Cabinet Committee on Institutional Reforms for arriving at a legally viable solution.