ISLAMABAD, Aug 3: A typo in the notification of Prime Minister Secretariat has turned out to be a blessing for the 200 officers of Higher Education Commission (HEC).

The notification, meant for Heavy Electrical Complex (HEC), Hattar, where 200 employees are also waiting for the regularisation of their services, was erroneously delivered to Higher Education Commission.

The HEC after receiving the notification constituted a committee for the regularisation of contract employees. Their regularisation will affect the seniority of over 600 regular employees.

On the other hand, the employees of Heavy Electrical Complex, left high and dry, contacted PM secretariat for the correction of the mistake, Dawn has learnt.

According to sources, on May 1, 2012, former prime minister Yousuf Raza Gilani had to address workers convention at Convention Centre, Islamabad. Workers of Heavy Electrical Complex, Hattar, reached there and started protest for the regularisation forcing the PM to announce that all the workers of Heavy Electrical Complex (HEC) will be regularized.

President labour union Heavy Electrical Complex, Tahir Amin while talking to Dawn said same abbreviation of both the organisations could be blamed for all this mess. HEC stands for Heavy Electrical Complex and also for Higher Education Commission.

“We have contacted the Prime Minister Secretariat and also had a meeting with Ch. Manzoor, President, People’s Labour Bureau and Member of Cabinet Sub-Committee on Regularisation who has assured them that he will talk to the relevant department and the issue will be resolved but so far we have been waiting for the regularisation,” he said.

According to documents available with Dawn, after receiving the directive from PM Secretariat, Higher Education Commission constituted a committee for the regularisation of contract employees.

According to notification issued on July 27, Prof Dr Sohail H Naqvi is the chairman of the committee and there are three members i.e. Dr Nasser Ali Khan, Ghulam Mujtaba Kayani and Awais Ahmed.

An officer of the Higher Education Commission (HEC) requesting on condition of anonymity said that meeting of the committee was held on Wednesday in which it was discussed that how contract employees could be regularized and how funds would be arranged for them.

“There are around 200 contract employees in Higher Education Commission who have been hired through PSDP-funded projects and they usually look after scholarship programmes. On the other hand, PM directive clearly mentions that it was for the regularisation of workers.

All class IV workers have already been regularised in Higher Education Commission so the notification does not make any sense,” he said.

“Dr Sohail Naqvi who has been appointed as Chairman of the committee, himself has been working on contract basis and his contract will be expired on September 14, 2012,” he said.

According to sources, in Higher Education Commission, most of the officers have been working on contract basis, and the notification has given them hope that management would regularise them.

Executive Director and Chairman of Regularization Committee, Dr Sohail Naqvi while talking to Dawn said that Higher Education Commission had received the notification and now it was the responsibility of the management to constitute a committee and start regularisation process.

“We cannot stop committee’s proceedings on demand of employees or any other department. We have received directive from PM Secretariat and only PM Secretariat can instruct us to stop the proceedings through another directive,” he said.

“There is around 200 staff, who has been working on contract basis and according to the policy of government they should be regularised,” he said.

The HEC chairman Javied Lagari while talking to dawn said he did not know that the directive was sent by mistake. HEC has to implement PM directive, he add.

Deputy Secretary Prime Minister Secretariat, Qamar Mustafa Shah, while talking to Dawn said that he had already informed by the employees about the typo so he would look into the file that where that mistake was initiated.

“The PS to PM had marked the minutes and then it was sent to us from different departments. So it will take some days to fix the responsibility and then a corrigendum will be issued,” he said.