Get back to where you belong

37 top bureaucrats who managed to get influential jobs have been sent back to their original departments.

Thirty-seven top bureaucrats who managed to get influential jobs have been sent back to their original departments on orders of the Sindh High Court.

These bureaucrats had originally worked at semi-government organisations, corporations and different government companies but succeeded in getting posted to important departments. Many of them, who are even not civil servants, were at PTCL and Sui Gas, for example. After the media highlighted the issue, the government canceled the deputation about 104 employees about seven months back.

Recently, the Sindh government had told 70 employees to return to their parent organisations. The bureaucrats decided to challenge the government’s decision in the Sindh High Court, arguing that they wanted to complete their tenure. The court held up the Sindh government’s decision on Monday following which the province’s machinery cranked out a notification, asking departmental secretaries to implement the orders with immediate effect.

Deputation is an agreement between an employee and the government for a specific period. Initially, the period is fixed for about three years but it is likely to be extended. The chief minister has the authority to sanction these postings and many of these lucrative slots were approved by the last and current chief ministers.

This is, however, the tip of the iceberg, some employees said. “The biggest victims of this deputation [business] are employees who do not get promoted for years,” said a staffer at the Sindh Secretariat while explaining who is at disadvantage when people leapfrog over others.

According to the notification, Moonis Ayaz, the director-general of culture, has been transferred back to his post at Shah Latif University. The legal wranglings continued, as Moonis Ayaz, one of officers ordered to be sent back to his original department, filed a petition on Tuesday, seeking a review of the court’s orders. As a result, the Sindh High Court issued notice to the chief secretary and others on his petition.

Lal Mohammed Jatoi, the deputy director food, who is an employee of the Employees Old-Age Benefits Institution, has been transferred back to his parent department. Sharaf Ali Shah, who was working as an Additional Secretary in Sindh has been transferred back to Sindh University. Similarly, Mohammed Ismail Jumani, an employee at PTCL who had himself posted to the Labour department, has been transferred back to PTCL.  Additional Secretary Agriculture Sajjad Hyder Shah has been transferred to Port Qasim, Khadim Hussain Baloch, who was working as a director minority on deputation has been transferred to his original job in SITE.

Engineer Babu Ram has been transferred from the irrigation department back to Sui Gas, Zahid Lashari from the works and service department to Sui Gas, Javed Bhutto from the works and services department to his original department of the Karachi Water and Sewerage Board, Kashif Noor from the works and services department to the Lakhra Coal Development Company. Sohail Ahmed from Works  and Service has been sent back to Sui Gas and Jam Anis from the works and services department to Sui Gas. Engineer Sarfaraz Ahmed from the food department goes back to Sui Gas, Ghulam Mohammed Mangi from irrigation to Sui Gas, Rashid Ahmed Jumani from the works and service department to the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority, Mohammed Ismail Jumani from the labour department to PTCL,  Abdul Sattar Abbasi from the industries department to WAPDA. Food Deputy Director Ghulam Mohammed has been asked to report to his parent department of Sui Gas, Fakharudin Abro working at the Anti-Corruption deparment has been transferred to the education department and  Mohammed Ahmed from local government to PIA.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 7^th, 2010.