To force officers of their respective departments into obeying their orders, most ministers and top bureaucrats in the Sindh government are reluctant to repeal the Removal from Service Ordinance-2000 (RSO 2000) – promulgated during General Pervez Musharraf dictatorial tenure, Pakistan Today has learnt. Well-placed sources in the provincial government told Pakistan Today that the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP)-led federal government had repealed the anti-labour law in March 2010, but the Sindh government is still not ready to abolish the law despite constituting a high-level committee to look into the matter nine months ago.
On February 17, Sindh Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah had constituted a committee including provincial Education Minister Pir Mazharul Haq, Law Minister Ayaz Soomro and parliamentary leader of Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) Sardar Ahmed “to evaluate whether RSO 2000 may be repealed as done by the federal government or not; and to evaluate the reasons due to which cases registered under RSO 2000 could not be disposed of even after lapse of three years.”
According to them, most of the employees sacked through the RSO 2000 belong to the Sindh Education Department headed by Senior Minister Haq – also the head of the committee – but the minister is not interested in repealing the law. Meanwhile, Sindh Chief Secretary Raja Muhammad Abbas has sent a reminder to the two committee members and the head, suggesting them to prepare their recommendations as the matter could be submitted before the next coming cabinet meeting,
However, no meeting of the committee has been called yet.
Drawing attention of the members, the chief secretary in his reminder stated that despite the passage of nine months, no recommendations for repealing the RSO 2000 have been forwarded and most of the provincial administrative departments are confused over the prevalent law regarding the disposal of disciplinary cases against the Sindh government employees.
It is worth mentioning that terming the RSO 2000 a clear violation of the constitution, lawyers, labourers, journalists and civil society organisations, have time and again called for repealing the “black law of the dictatorial era” that even does not exist on the federal level.
A renowned constitutional expert told Pakistan Today that Article 25-A of the constitution of Pakistan ensures all citizens equal before the law and entitlement to equal protection. “[But] due to RSO 2000, Sindh government employees are not treated equally as compared to the employees of federal administrative departments and corporations,” he said.
“After taking over civilian authority in October 1999 unconstitutionally and subjugating the judiciary through Provincial Constitutional Order (PCO) in 2000, Musharraf had introduced the RSO 2000, providing absolute powers to the government for removing any unwanted person in civil service.
“The introduction of this law created insecurities among the civil servants, causing lack of initiatives and loss of morale in the policymaking and implementation wings of governance. When the democratic government came into power, it repealed the RSO 2000 on the federal level but the provincial governments in Sindh, Punjab, Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa are still reluctant to repeal the ordinance,” the law expert said.
After abolishing the law, the PPP-led government also mentioned the achievement in its official book ‘Parliament at Work’.
It was stated in the book that the people’s government had realised the negative impact of the legislation [RSO 2000] on the public sector employees and worked with all parties in the parliament to annul this draconian and black law. “The public servants will now be able to work without fear of victimisation or premature dismissal from service,” it was stated.
On January 26, 2010, the National Assembly had passed the Removal from Service (Special Powers) Ordinance 2000 (Repeal) Bill 2010 to ensure the rights and job security of government employees. The bill had already been sanctioned by the Senate on January 18, 2010.
On March 25 last year, President Asif Ali Zardari signed the said bill and announced repealing of the RSO 2000.
However, the Sindh government is still reluctant to repeal the law giving the impression that it wants its employees and legislators to remain insecure.