MUZAFFARABAD, Oct 17: The AJK cabinet here on Wednesday lifted the ban on induction against the available posts, but resolved that the appointments would be made in accordance with the rules and regulations.

The cabinet meeting, presided over by Prime Minister Sardar Sikandar Hayat Khan, reviewed the affairs related to the ban on appointments and transfers and resolved to formulate a comprehensive policy to deal with the matters.

Regarding the transfers, it decided to keep the ban in force to the extent of those employees whose posting period in any office was less than two years.

However, it removed the ban in cases where the posting period had crossed the 2-year limit, and empowered the competent authorities to make the transfer of any official or employee, keeping in view the rules, regulations and the national and government interest.

The prime minister also directed settlement of the pending promotion cases of the employees and said that there should not be any discrimination with any public servant in this regard.

The cabinet directed the local bodies (LB) election commissioner to start the process of fresh delimitation of the constituencies from Nov 1 and complete it by Jan 12, so that the LB polls could be held in March.

The cabinet decided to include the chief secretary in the committee constituted to recommend, keeping in view the particular geographical, social and economic conditions as well as the volume of land holdings in Azad Kashmir, whether the LB polls should be held under the devolution of power plan (like Pakistan), under the already existing system in AJK or under some third procedure having good features of both the systems.

The committee is lead by Local Government and Rural Development (LG&RD) Minister Raja Nisar Ahmed and includes Industries Minister Chaudhry Masood Khalid, ruling party Legislative Assembly Member (MLA) Raja Naseer, opposition MLAs Chaudhry Pervez Ashraf and Munir Awan, and Implementation Commission Chairman Raja Farooq Haider Khan, besides the LG&RD Department secretary and the LB election commissioner.

The cabinet directed the committee to submit its report within a few days.

The cabinet decided that it would meet twice a month and made it mandatory for the secretaries to government and heads of the departments to remain at the capital during the meetings.

It approved enforcement of strict ban on smoking in public transport, educational institutions, hospitals and other public places.

It was decided that use of pressure horns in public transport would be banned.

The cabinet directed the finance and S&GAD departments to review the proposed amendments in the Civil Servants Act and submit a report at the next meeting.