PESHAWAR: The provincial government has constituted a high level committee to probe illegal appointments in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Workers Welfare Board (WWB) and take appropriate legal action against the guilty.

According to an official notification issued by the WWB secretary, the committee consists of minister for labour, secretary labour, secretary WWB and director general of Employees Social Security.

It merits a mention here that the National Accountability Bureau (NAB), in a letter to the provincial secretary labour, had requested him to constitute a committee to look into the issue of appointments made in WWB since 2007.

The NAB had pointed out that former provincial minister for labour had misused his authority in making the appointments. During its own inquiry into appointments, the NAB had observed that numerous individuals on various posts from class-IV to BPS-18 had been appointed against the relevant rules governing appointments in WWB, which included issues of age, deficient qualification, surplus appointment, irregular promotion, and violation of criteria prescribed in the advertisement.

Meanwhile, in a statement issued here on Saturday, Chief Minister Pervez Khattak categorically said that the demands of the contract employees of WWB were totally illegal. He said that employees’ contracts would only be extended if they qualified the prescribed screening test as per rules.

The chief minister said that those employees who were trying to blackmail the provincial government through protest demonstrations should shun the practice as the government would stick to its policy of merit.

Published in Dawn, April 26th, 2015

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