PESHAWAR: Recruitment, reshuffle, banned for two weeks
By Mohammad Ali Khan
PESHAWAR, March 6: The NWFP caretaker government has banned transfers and postings of the public sector employees besides halting fresh inductions and work on development projects for the next two weeks.
NWFP Chief Secretary Sahibzada Riaz Noor had issued orders on Wednesday directing the administrative heads of all the departments to immediately stop reshuffling of the government employees.
Likewise, they were also directed to stop the recruitment process as well as work on development projects till the next government assumed the office, an official at Establishment Department told Dawn.
The heads of the departments, however, have been allowed to transfer or post an officer in case of emergency, for which they have to take prior approval from the chief secretary.
Officials explained that the reason behind the decision was that the caretaker ministers were issuing directives for transfers and postings of public sector employees, and a surge in the practice was seen after Feb 18 polls. The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) had banned general transfers and postings till Feb 18.
The caretaker chief minister Shamsul Mulk took notice of unabated transfers and postings of government employees on such large scale and directed placing a ban on it.
“The chief minister believes that since now the new government is about to join the office, it should be its prerogative to order reshuffling of the government employees and carry out the ongoing development projects,” explained an official at Chief Minister’s Secretariat.
There were reports that the caretaker chief minister’s directives had annoyed some of the cabinet members, who had approached him for reversal of the orders.
“The chief minister has called a farewell meeting of the cabinet on Friday at 10pm, where the chief minister will try to convince his fellow cabinet members about the decision,” the official said and clarified that there was no likelihood of withdrawal of earlier issued orders.
