The induction of serving army officers in the departments of Education, Communication and Information started during the rule of General (Retd) Pervez Musharraf, the Senate Standing Committee on Cabinet Secretariat was informed on Monday.
Secretary Establishment Division Abdul Rauf Chaudhry told the committee, which met with Senator Shahid Bugti in the chair, that in-service army personnel were inducted in the departments of Education, Communication and Information on the basis of 10 percent quota against the posts of grade 17 and above during Musharraf regime. He further informed that the then prime minister, Shaukat Aziz, had ordered the appointments of the serving army officers in the civil department of Information, Education and Communication for which no approval of the Parliament had been sought.
Chaudhry also said that prior to those appointments, the in-service army personnel had been appointed only on the recommendation of the Ministry of Defence, against a prescribed quota, in the departments of Foreign Affairs, Police and the District Management. The secretary further said that the officers inducted by the previous government were eligible to claim all benefits from both, their respective civil department and the Defence Ministry, after retirement. The committee expressed concerns over the inductions terming them deplorable and unethical. Senator Kalsoom Perveen slammed the appointments and wondered as to why only politicians were blamed for wrongdoings. Moreover, the committee was also told that 40 contract employees had been relieved from government service following the orders of the Supreme Court of Pakistan and the remaining would also be relieved soon.
Later talking to Pakistan Today, committee chairman Senator Shahid Bugti said that the committee in previous meeting had recommended that no army officer would be inducted in future as it hampered the promotions process. He said that the objective of the committee was to streamline the promotion process on fast-track. When asked that why the committee did not recommend the suggestion of some members to abolish dual pensions, Bugti said that only prime minister or the Cabinet could do so and that he did not want to involve the committee in any confrontation with the govt.
