May 15, 2008	Thursday	Jamadi-ul-Awwal 9, 1429

LAHORE, May 14: Ushering in second round of sackings, the Punjab government intends to show the door to hundreds of contract employees recruited in "violation of rules and regulations" next week to ‘clear the mess’ created by the previous rulers of the province.

“We are in the final stages of preparing lists of all those employed on contract basis in violation of rules and regulations, and hope to remove them from service anytime next week," a senior official told Dawn here on Wednesday.

The government had sacked all the superannuated re-employed people, who were given jobs in violation of rules, soon after its formation. It had also announced to fire all those illegally recruited on contract basis in the second phase.

The official said the lists were being made of irregular contract appointments in provincial departments, attached departments, autonomous bodies and even districts and the number ran into hundreds if not thousands.

He explained that the past government had decided to discourage regular appointments to reduce the government's salary bill that included fringe benefits, introducing contract-based employment instead.

As a result, it recruited thousands of people on contract basis. But, he said, it was found afterwards that rules and regulations had been violated in numerous cases.

When asked about the nature of violations, he said recruitment committees were formed in relaxation of rules. Such committees also relaxed rules to benefit the blue eyed.

There were cases in which even the rules were not relaxed and people were recruited without any legal justification, he said.

He said under the law recruitments in grades over BS-16 were to be made through the Punjab Public Service Commission even on contract basis. But the principle was not followed and people were recruited through the committees.

Further, he said, recruitments in higher grades were made through the committees but no attempt was made to get them regularised through the service commission.

The official said the government was also assessing whether the chief minister's powers to relax rules to benefit a few at the cost of general public were justified.