Court orders: Govt to revert posts of 150 junior officers

Several grade-17 officers are working on grades 18 or 19 while some grade-19 officers are working on grade 20.

KARACHI:

The provincial government, in compliance with court orders, has sent a summary to the chief minister to transfer more than 150 junior officers of the police department and the civil bureaucracy, who have been working on senior positions. 

Sources privy to the development told The Express Tribune that the order was issued in the wake of the court's warning to the chief secretary and the services secretary to either take action against the junior officers who have been posted on Own Pay Scale (OPS) or face dire consequences. According to the same sources, the chief secretary has also issued directives to various department heads to provide lists of officers working in their departments.

"As soon as the summary is approved, the junior officers would be reverted to their earlier positions," said an official, on the condition of anonymity.

Several grade-17 officers are working on grades 18 or 19, while some grade-19 officers are working on the position of grade 20. Many of these officers belong to the District Management Group (DMG) and the Police Services of Pakistan (PSP).

Some of the officers who will be affected by the decision include the Sindh relief commissioner, Additional IGP Shahid Hayat, anti-corruption department chairperson Mukhtiar Soomro, two additional secretaries working at Governor House and other section officers.

"AIG Shahid Hayat is actually a grade-20 officer, who has been performing the duties of a grade-21 officer for some time now," an additional secretary of the services, general administration and coordination department told The Express Tribune. "If these officers are reverted to their original posts, AIG Hayat will also be transferred."

The additional secretary added that other SSPs and SPs in the police department had also been promoted on political grounds and would be reverted to their former posts. When contacted, the information minister, Sharjeel Memon, did not confirm the reports but said that the Sindh government would comply with court orders.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 13^th, 2014.