Job security: G-B governor yet to sign ‘controversial’ regularisation act

Legislation will make permanent nearly 180 contractual govt employees of grades 1-18.

GILGIT:

The fate of nearly 180 employees of the Gilgit-Baltistan (G-B) government hangs in the balance as the G-B Contract Employees Regularisation of Service Act, 2014 is yet to be endorsed by the governor.

The act was unanimously passed by the G-B Assembly on March 11 and calls for the regularisation of contract employees of the government from basic pay scale 1 to 18.

Tabling the bill in the house, Law Minister Ali Madad Sher had said the law would only be applicable to those government servants who fulfilled required protocols during their induction.

“Of those 180 employees, some have fulfilled the required protocol while many others haven’t. Their services will not be made permanent,” said an official privy to the matter.

He added that there are elements in the government that want to regularise all government posts under the garb of the act.

However, up till now, Governor Pir Karam Ali Shah has declined to sign the act, which will then make it part of the legislation and thus binding on the government. According to officials, if the law is signed by the governor, many other employees of the government will also benefit from it.

A majority of contractual employees of the G-B government had been inducted during the past three to nine years.

An enquiry conducted last year suggested many of the inductions lacked merit and transparency. In the aftermath of the enquiry, G-B Chief Secretary Younus Dagha referred the case to the federal public service commission to carry out proper inductions in government departments through placing advertisements in newspapers. The affected employees, however, influenced lawmakers to plead their case in the assembly, leading to passage of the act.

Meanwhile, contractual employees have also submitted a petition in the G-B Chief Court challenging termination of their contracts.

“The issue is under consideration but I want to first take into account the informed opinion of lawyers and other experts before I make a decision,” Governor Shah told reporters in Gilgit recently.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 9^th, 2014.