LAHORE, Sept 21: Different government departments are defeating the purpose of the Punjab Removal from Service (Special Powers) Ordinance, 2000, by not finalizing inquiries against their officials within the timeframe prescribed by the law.

The ordinance binds all inquiry officers to complete the inquiries within 25 days to clear the government of corrupt and inefficient personnel. This limit is being extended to 45 days through an amendment to the law.

The ordinance was promulgated by the present government to ensure the speedy disposal of the inquiries which used to linger on, in many cases for years, allowing the corrupt and the inefficient to remain in service.

Previously departmental inquiries were held under the Punjab Civil Servants Act, 1974 (E&D Rules) and its amended form of 1999 which provided for their completion in 90 and 60 days, respectively.

Though the new law binds the inquiry officers to complete the inquiry in 25 days, it is silent on taking action against those not fulfilling this basic requirement.

Sources told Dawn on Saturday that to overcome this flaw, every department was required to give reasons for the delay and account for the reason in the A and D proforma designed by the government. “But none of the departments delaying the inquiries have ever given the reason,” they said.

They said despite the flaw in the law, those not completing inquiries within the stipulated time could be proceeded against on the charge of inefficiency provided their mala fide was proved.

They alleged that in most cases the reasons for the delay were believed to be favouritism, nepotism and higher officers collusion in the offence with those actually facing the inquiries.

The sources claimed in many cases the inquiry officers found to have been protecting those facing inquiries for favours both in cash and kind. A number of them believed to have delayed the inquiries to protect their cronies facing the inquiries, they claimed.

A senior officer said the inquiries were being delayed despite repeated instructions issued because of the special interest of the governor to clean the government of corrupt and inefficient people, many departments were delaying the inquiries.

In one such letter sent to the food department recently, the government expressed its grave concern over the inordinate delay in the completion of the inquiries, asking its secretary to forthwith do the needful, they said.

The main departments delaying inquiries were stated to be the board of revenue, school education, irrigation and power, local government and rural development, forest and food.

The sources said many functionaries of the food department, especially those in Multan, Dera Ghazi Khan and Bahawalpur divisions, were facing even up to six inquiries but none of them had yet been completed.

They wondered as to why the food departments officials facing more than one inquiries were allowed to work when the law provided that such people might be placed under suspension or sent on leave.

The sources said official files contained figures of the pending inquiries between December last year to May this year. New figures up to September were being compiled but they too showed little improvement.

According to the figures between December, 2001, to May 31, this year, as many as 309 inquiries were pending against food department officials in BS-1 to 16 and 98 against officers in BS-17 and above.

The latest figure of the department inquiries was stated to be 431 against employees in BS-1 to 16. Of them 168 were in Multan, 85 in Dera Ghazi Khan, 83 in Bahawalpur, 48 in Sargodha, 22 in Faisalabad, 21 in Gujranwala, three in Lahore and one in Rawalpindi.

The pending balance of inquiries against officers in BS-17 and above was stated to be 51.

The figures up to May showed 683 (BS-1 to 16) and 116 (BS-17 and above) inquiries in the forest and wildlife department and 403 (BS-1 to 16) and 145 (BS-17 to 18) in the school education department.

The inquiries in the other departments were: (BS-1 to 16) Board of revenue 164, irrigation and power 235, local government and rural development 212, agriculture 88, excise and taxation 74, cooperatives 32, finance 30, services and general administration 25 and planning and development and housing 24 each.

The inquiries against officers in BS-17 and above were: Local government and rural development 196, agriculture 123, forest and wildlife 116, health 116, irrigation and power 96, housing 75, industries and mineral development 88, higher education 83, communication and works 70, board of revenue 64, S&GAD 43, finance 29, livestock 24 and labour 21.