The Sindh High Court, Karachi, has stayed the appointment of general managers (GMs) in the Sindh Irrigation and Drainage Authority (SIDA) on the legal plea filed by 17 officers of the authority. "The respondents are restrained from acting upon the impugned publication for the post of GM and issuing any appointment letter and allowing the joining," reads the order.
The court adjourned the hearing to January 10 (today). The petitioners Syed Muhammad Ali Shah, Shakila Laghari, Nauman Rashid Memon, Hizbullah Mangrio, Gul Muhammad Jiskani and 12 others had challenged appointments of three BPS-20 GMs and one BPS-19 Social Development Scientist.
The petitioners maintained that after having served the organisation for many years and despite possessing all the required qualifications, they were not offered the said jobs.
They apprised the court that SIDA was established as an autonomous body under Sindh Water Management Ordinance, 2002, to undertake reforms in the irrigation sector. The employees were hired initially on contract basis and were paid accordingly. A board meeting of SIDA on April 15, 2009, decided to pursue the matter of seeking budgetary allocations for salaries of the staff and creation of 54 SNE posts.
The government, subsequently, had sanctioned only 15 SNE positions for SIDA in the fiscal 2011-12. The following year another proposal was floated for 46 sanctioned posts but to no avail. In reaction 17 employees of SIDA filed a petition in the SHC for regularisation of their services in 2013 and their plea was granted as the court ordered the government to regularise their jobs. They said in 2023 the service rules and regulations were drafted but they are yet to be notified.
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