LAHORE, Feb 24: The Punjab government has finally notified the seniority list of formerly Extra-Assistant Commissioners, correcting an earlier decision to give an edge to tehsildars over them.

The list has been prepared by the Services and General Administration Department after 15 years, overruling an earlier order by the Board of Revenue that had given an edge to tehsildars over the EACs in the seniority list by considering the former’s two-year pre-service training as service period, senior officers said on Friday.

“The dispute regarding the complicated issue has been settled and everyone (the EACs and tehsildars) has been placed in the seniority list according to actual service period,” they said.

According to a notification issued by the S&GAD, some 498 officials, including those belonging to both the services, have been placed in the seniority list and, officials said, this was based on the original length of service of all.

A senior officer belonging to the EAC service said justice had been meted out and all in the group now had a trouble-free path to promotion, which was hampered by an earlier decision of the BoR to give an edge to tehsildars.

He said tehsildars were given two-year training before their induction into service and, according to the government rules, the length of service was counted only from the date of appointment of an official.

“We were recruited through the Public Service Commission while the tehsildars directly and mainly on political recommendations,” he said.

To elaborate the controversy, senior officials said the issue of seniority became very complex because of the controversial orders and the seniority list issued by the BoR and the S&GAD in the early 1990s and 2003.

In view of these actions by the BoR, tehsildars had been getting benefit of seniority on the basis of their training period although the government service rules did not provide for it. As result of the orders, an unending spate of litigation blocked the promotion of PCS officers.

Meanwhile, the BoR recently changed its earlier decision which had now been followed by the S&GAD, also considering the length of service of tehsildars from the day of their initial appointment.