According to a notification issued by the FBR on Thursday, “Ali Arshad Hakeem is granted performance allowance equivalent to 100% of basic pay with effect from 11-7-2012”.
The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has also discouraged the practice of double salaries or special allowances for heads of departments.
The allowance will be availed every month and is in violation of the basic criteria set by the finance ministry while uncapping the FBR’s allowance in June this year. FBR employees are entitled to performance allowance provided they achieve their targets.
“The performance allowance will be granted only to those FBR employees who meet the laid-down criteria/guidelines and it will be distinct from the special allowance,” according to Finance Secretary Wajid Rana’s letter to the prime minister, written to seek uncapping of the allowance.
The government had restored the FBR’s allowance after employees went on strike before the close of the previous fiscal year.
Since Hakeem took over as chairman in July, the FBR has missed tax collection targets – a yardstick for assessment of performance. Compared to the combined target of roughly Rs293 billion for July and August, the FBR collected Rs229 billion, falling short by Rs64 billion. The collection was also about Rs4 billion or 2% less than the collection made in the corresponding period of last fiscal year.
This trend indicates that the FBR may not be able to meet the revenue target of Rs2.381 trillion for 2012-13. The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has already suggested to the government to revise the target.
When FBR spokesperson Riffat Shaheen Qazi was contacted for comments, she said, “the chairman is not getting performance allowance”. When her attention was drawn to the notification, Qazi said the notification had been withdrawn.
The notification was issued on Thursday and no further notification was placed on the FBR’s website for cancellation of the earlier announcement. The FBR has a standard practice of issuing notification that clearly states amendments or withdrawal of previous notifications.
Copies of the notification authorising grant of performance allowance to the chairman have already been sent to all relevant quarters including the Accountant General of Pakistan Revenues.
The issue of double salaries and performance allowance has created divisions in the bureaucracy as only about a dozen departments have been allowed double salaries. These include defence, judiciary, FBR, Prime Minister’s Secretariat, Presidency and Motorway Police.
AGPR employees have also been demanding either double salaries or withdrawal of the privilege from other departments. They have already staged a strike and given a two-month deadline to the government to resolve the issue.
The finance secretary has pointed out financial constraints, restricting the authorities from extending this facility to other departments. So far, eight departments have requested for double salaries. A Pay and Pension Commission is also reviewing the pay structure to bring an end to this anomaly.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 14th, 2012.
COMMENTS
Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.
For more information, please see our Comments FAQ