Curious case: Revenue employee working on multiple posts
Girdawar has charge of two BS-11, three BS-7 posts.
LAHORE:
A Revenue Department employee in Sheikhupura district is working on five positions besides his own post, The Express Tribune has learnt. Officials claim that he was given the additional responsibilities due to the ongoing work on computerisation of land records.
The grade-11 employee is working on two posts in his own scale and three additional grade-7 posts.
Muhammad Aslam, a girdawar, is working as qanoongo in Sharqpur tehsil. He also holds the offices of qanoongo (an administrative post in the tehsil) and the Dhamke circle qanoongo.
The Dhamke circle seat became vacant last week after the retirement of Mubashar Dogar. Officials in the Revenue Department, requesting anonymity, told The Express Tribune that Aslam managed to get the additional charge of the Dhamke circle through political influence.
Aslam also has the charge of three posts of patwaris (grade-7).
“Officials are sometime given charge of additional posts in their own scale or a higher post. There is no precedent of an employee getting additional charge of a post lower than his own grade,” the official said.
The officials alleged that Aslam was “making” Rs300,000 a month from favours involving his additional responsibilities.
“All land record is being computerised nowadays. So, he (Aslam) is trying to extract all the benefit he can from these posts before the computerisation process is completed,” the officials said.
One of the officials alleged that Aslam had brought political pressure to bear on the additional district collector (ADC) and assistant commissioner (AC) to get the posts.
The ADC supervises girdawars and the AC oversees patwaris. Talking to The Express Tribune, Aslam admitted that he was working on five additional posts. “I was given one patwar circle because there was no competent patwari available to prepare the record for the computerisation process,” Aslam said.
“There is also a shortage of patwaris nowadays. Many Revenue Department employees have been given similar additional responsibilities,” he said. However, he was unable to name such an employee.
He denied that he had used political influence to get the additional responsibilities. “After the start of the process to computerise revenue records, there is no longer any attraction to these posts,” he said.
Sharqpur Assistant Commissioner Muhammad Arshad Bhatti told The Express Tribune that Aslam was given the additional responsibilities because they had to prepare the record of a patwar circle for computerisation. “No one could do this except Aslam. Therefore, he was given additional charge of this patwar circle,” Bhatti said.
Bhatti denied allegations that Aslam had been given the additional posts under pressure from his political backers.
Kulsoom Hayee, the area additional district collector, told The Express Tribune that Aslam was working on three posts of girdawar because of a staff shortage.
“Since the introduction of Land Records Management Information System, many patwaris and girdawars are no longer interested in their duties. A few days ago, girdawar Mubashar Dogar got voluntary retirement and Aslam had to be given the additional charge of his duties,” she said.
The official denied allegations that Aslam was given the posts due to political pressure.
Published in The Express Tribune, July 10th, 2014.
A Revenue Department employee in Sheikhupura district is working on five positions besides his own post, The Express Tribune has learnt. Officials claim that he was given the additional responsibilities due to the ongoing work on computerisation of land records.
The grade-11 employee is working on two posts in his own scale and three additional grade-7 posts.
Muhammad Aslam, a girdawar, is working as qanoongo in Sharqpur tehsil. He also holds the offices of qanoongo (an administrative post in the tehsil) and the Dhamke circle qanoongo.
The Dhamke circle seat became vacant last week after the retirement of Mubashar Dogar. Officials in the Revenue Department, requesting anonymity, told The Express Tribune that Aslam managed to get the additional charge of the Dhamke circle through political influence.
Aslam also has the charge of three posts of patwaris (grade-7).
“Officials are sometime given charge of additional posts in their own scale or a higher post. There is no precedent of an employee getting additional charge of a post lower than his own grade,” the official said.
The officials alleged that Aslam was “making” Rs300,000 a month from favours involving his additional responsibilities.
“All land record is being computerised nowadays. So, he (Aslam) is trying to extract all the benefit he can from these posts before the computerisation process is completed,” the officials said.
One of the officials alleged that Aslam had brought political pressure to bear on the additional district collector (ADC) and assistant commissioner (AC) to get the posts.
The ADC supervises girdawars and the AC oversees patwaris. Talking to The Express Tribune, Aslam admitted that he was working on five additional posts. “I was given one patwar circle because there was no competent patwari available to prepare the record for the computerisation process,” Aslam said.
“There is also a shortage of patwaris nowadays. Many Revenue Department employees have been given similar additional responsibilities,” he said. However, he was unable to name such an employee.
He denied that he had used political influence to get the additional responsibilities. “After the start of the process to computerise revenue records, there is no longer any attraction to these posts,” he said.
Sharqpur Assistant Commissioner Muhammad Arshad Bhatti told The Express Tribune that Aslam was given the additional responsibilities because they had to prepare the record of a patwar circle for computerisation. “No one could do this except Aslam. Therefore, he was given additional charge of this patwar circle,” Bhatti said.
Bhatti denied allegations that Aslam had been given the additional posts under pressure from his political backers.
Kulsoom Hayee, the area additional district collector, told The Express Tribune that Aslam was working on three posts of girdawar because of a staff shortage.
“Since the introduction of Land Records Management Information System, many patwaris and girdawars are no longer interested in their duties. A few days ago, girdawar Mubashar Dogar got voluntary retirement and Aslam had to be given the additional charge of his duties,” she said.
The official denied allegations that Aslam was given the posts due to political pressure.
Published in The Express Tribune, July 10th, 2014.