PESHAWAR, Sept 23: Twenty-three employees of the Fata civil secretariat have moved the Peshawar High Court against decisions taken by a committee regarding the terms and conditions of their service.

A writ petition was filed in the high court by the employees, including Ihsanullah Khan and others, who were previously working in the defunct Fata Development Corporation and were later adjusted in the civil secretariat. The petition was filed through Advocate Syed Zafar Abbas Zaidi.

The petitioners stated that the committee presided over by the NWFP chief secretary was assigned the task to decide the status of the adjusted employees. They contended that the committee met on July 14 and overstepped its mandate by taking decisions contrary to various notifications of the government through which the petitioners had been adjusted in the secretariat with their own terms and conditions.

The respondents in the petition are: the NWFP chief secretary, the federal government through the state and frontier regions secretary, the cabinet division secretary and the Fata civil secretariat additional chief secretary.

The petitioners stated that after the dissolution of the Fata Development Corporation on June 30, 2006, they were placed in surplus pool for ultimate absorption against vacant posts in the provincial government or anywhere else.

The federal government allowed creation of 853 posts in Sept 2003 for the governor’s secretariat (Fata), now called civil secretariat, and its four line departments -- irrigation, mineral and industries, finance and planning. About 400 employees of the defunct corporation, including the petitioners, were adjusted with their own terms and conditions through various notifications.

The petitioners stated that after their absorption in their own pay scales and allowances, the matter should have been over because the adjustment was against the posts created for the specific purpose of adjustment of the employees rendered surplus.

However, they added, a summary was moved to the federal government on Aug 28, 2005, for settling the terms and conditions of the adjustment employees. The summary was referred to the committee on July 31, 2006.

The committee had decided that out of 491 employees, 268 were work-charged who should be adjusted against project posts in the Fata with pay protection; out of 223 regular employees, those with satisfactory service record should be considered for appointment in the proposed Fata Development Authority, whose terms and conditions would be determined by the board of directors of the authority; those employees who were taken over by the FDA might, if required, be transferred on deputation to the civil secretariat; and, all the un-adjusted employees would be compulsorily retired through golden handshake.