ISLAMABAD: The Establishment Division (ED) has notified an eight member committee for solving the department’s deputationist problem.
The notification document stated that ED additional secretary-II will be the chairman of the eight member committee while others members will include ED Joint Secretary, JS Litigation Wing, JS Regulation Wing, JS Training Wing, JS Law and Justice Division, Federal Public Service Commission (FPSC) director general (DG), and ED deputy secretary-II.
The committee has been established after the Supreme Court (SC) of Pakistan’s order dated March 30, 2017, in which the top court had directed ED to repatriate deputationists to their parent departments.
The document stated that the committee will recommend a modus operandi for the induction of deputationists through FPSC and also examine all pending litigation in courts.
Besides this, the committee will determine whether the litigations mentioned in TOR No 2 hold any legal ground in the face of the SC’s decision to repatriate deputationists and the rejection of ED’s subsequent review to make recommendations accordingly.
“Taking TOR No 2 and 3 into account, the committee will recommend a plan regarding the repatriation of deputationists in a way to minimise the Human Resource (HR) crisis in the federal secretariat while remaining within legal means,” the document added.
It is pertinent to mention here that 173 deputationists are presently working in federal ministries despite the passing of five year period.
The Establishment Division did not implement the court’s decision in the last year and and a half; however, it issued a repatriation notification of around 53 deputationists to their parent departments two weeks ago as the division had to inform the court about the implementation status. Even on this, a few deputationists went to court to get stay orders against the original order.
ED officials told Pakistan Today that there is already a shortage of officials which is why a committee has been formed to solve the crisis.
ED rules state that an official can remain on deputation for a maximum of five years and after which they cannot draw a salary or enjoy other perks and allowances.
The division’s latest report about the federal government’s employees highlighted the fact there are 78,623 positions from BPS-1 to BPS-22 that are vacant across the country. There are also 0.694 million sanctioned posts of employees in which 0.57 million are filled and 78,623 are vacant. This number is increasing each year.