THE finance department of the Punjab government through its letter, No.FD.SR-I/9-21/2013 dated April 1, 2013, conveyed to all administrative secretaries that the chief minister has announced the grant of MPhil allowance at the rate of 50pc of the PhD allowance to all government servants. It was on the condition they acquire MPhil degree from a recognised university of the Higher Education Commission.

Therefore, all eligible officers of various departments of the Punjab government submitted their requests to the authorities for the grant of the allowance.

But the administrative secretaries of certain departments were not sure about the notification. Therefore, the finance department twice clarified this point through notifications about their apprehensions.

All the eligible officers of the agriculture department, Punjab government, submitted their legitimate request for the grant of allowance. But, unfortunately, the department is still reluctant to grant the MPhil allowance because all the officers who submitted their requests have MSc (Hons) and not MPhil.

It is pertinent to mention here that MSc (Hons) is obtained after 18 years of education like MPhil. But despite repeated requests to the HEC no one paid heed to our request.

The HEC chairman is requested to issue a notification of equivalence of MSc (Hons) to MPhil to avoid frustration among the officers.

I also request the chief minister, chief secretary and the provincial ombudsman to intervene in this matter and provide justice to the affected officers of the agriculture department.

A citizen
D.G. Khan

Published in Dawn, September 30th, 2014