Disgruntled workforce: Ex-army men in police complain of ‘unfair’ salary deduction

Claim 50% increment announced in 2011 was slashed.

PESHAWAR: Representatives of former army officials now serving as policemen in Malakand division claimed on Wednesday that their salaries, instead of increasing, were being slashed by the government.

Addressing a news conference at the Peshawar Press Club (PPC), Raj Wali, Usman and other ex-servicemen serving with Buner police said around 2,500 retired army personnel were inducted into the police force in Malakand and other parts of the province by the previous Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) government on contract. The move had come following the military operation in Swat in 2009.

Wali said at the time of employment, constables were hired for a monthly salary of Rs14,459, havaldars at Rs15,425, assistant sub-inspectors at Rs16,835, sub-inspectors at Rs19,695 and inspectors at Rs24,027, adding members of each category received the same salary for about two years till the provincial government announced a 50% raise in salaries in 2011.

He said they continued to receive the new salary for six months when in 2012 the police department slashed the increased amount and also began deducting the amount drawn for the past six months from their salary.

Wali said the Peshawar High Court’s direction regarding their salaries, which was in their favour, was also ignored by the police department.

He said the deductions were in violation of a 2007 Supreme Court order which stated that extra allowances and raises received by government employees cannot be retroactively deducted from their salary. He said deductions worth Rs40 million each have been made from former army officials in Buner and Hangu alone. He said the total money taken back by the government from 2,500 people amounts to Rs350-400 million. At present, a regular constable receives Rs24,000 per month whereas a retired army personnel working at the same rank was getting Rs19,000, added Wali. He said retired army personnel serving in the police also did not get the same Shuhuda package as the police personnel when killed in the line of duty.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 6^th, 2014.