K-P civil servant legislation passed unanimousl

Chief Minister Pervez Khattak faces covert criticism from PTI MPA Qurban Ali Khan


Sohail Khattak November 18, 2015
PHOTO: AFP

PESHAWAR: The K-P Civil Servants (Amendment) Act 2015 was unanimously passed at a session of the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Assembly on Tuesday. Meanwhile, Chief Minister Pervez Khattak was at the receiving end of indirect jibes from a fellow PTI lawmaker.

Unanimously passed

During the session, the house passed the K-P Civil Servants (Amendment) Act 2015. The bill was tabled by Minister for Law, Parliamentary Affairs and Human Rights Imtiaz Shahid Qureshi and was unanimously adopted without any amendments. The law deals with the absorption and appointment of the federal employees in provincial government departments. These employees were serving on various posts in the federal government before the 18th Constitutional Amendment.

After the amendment, the employees were serving on deputation as the departments were devolved to the provinces.

According to the legislation, the seniority of the employees would be determined in accordance with the provision of this act while their liabilities would be shared between the federal and provincial governments. A committee will be constituted to remove hurdles in the implementation of the act.

The whistleblowers

Qureshi also tabled the K-P Whistleblower Protection and Vigilance Commission Bill 2015. Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl lawmaker Zareen Gul raised objections to the manner in which the bill was being passed.

“We have no objections to the bill,” she said. “However, the manner in which it is being passed is objectionable. The bill should be referred to a committee on law and parliamentary affairs where it can be appraised by two competent lawyers.”

Qureshi referred the bill to the relevant committee.

Minister of Local Government Inayatullah tabled the sixth amendment bill in the K-P Local Government Act 2013 which deals with the vote of no-confidence motion and vote of confidence issues relating to the nazim of district, tehsil or town council.

Veiled attacks

The remarks against the CM were made by PTI MPA Qurban Ali Khan, who hails from Khattak’s home district of Nowshera.

In a veiled reference to the chief minister, he said the dream of creating a “clean K-P” may not have been realised, but the drive for a corruption-free Nowshera was well under way.

During the session, Qurban congratulated Qaumi Watan Party lawmakers on becoming part of the government. The lawmaker made a special mention of QWP’s Anisa Zeb Tahirkheli who replaced former minister for mines and mineral development Ziaullah Afridi.

“The decision to hand this ministry over to a female signifies women’s empowerment,” he said.

“This is an important ministry. It used to be looked after by an honourable leader from my party who is currently in jail.”

At this point, K-P Assembly Speaker Asad Qaiser requested Qurban Ali to conclude his speech. However, opposition members insisted he finish his diatribe.

“Ziaullah is in jail,” he said. “However, I don’t know why those involved in illegal mining and have FIRs registered against them are still roaming free.”

The lawmakers drew attention to the fact that those who were involved in illegal mining have managed to evade the criminal justice system by pulling a few strings while Ziaullah is behind bars. He hoped Tahirkheli would take action against those influential figures who were involved in illegal mining.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 18th, 2015.

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