ISLAMABAD, Jan 1: The military authorities could penalize only 25 per cent of the over 15,000 employees against whom disciplinary action had been initiated since October 1999, official sources told Dawn.

The Defence Division was on the top of the list to initiate cases of corruption and inefficiency against as many as 2,998 officials which amounted to 20 per cent of the total corruption cases. This was followed by 1,741 of interior division, railways 1,599, communications 1,555 and revenue division 1,031.

The government initiated disciplinary action against a total of 15,010 government officials from BS-1 to 22. So far, it finalized cases of 9,221 employees or 61 per cent of the total. Of the total, the government succeeded in imposing major penalty on 3,709 officials which comes to around 24.7 per cent. Of them, 1,118 employees faced dismissal, 1,231 faced removal from service, 812 were compulsory retired and 548 faced reduction in rank.

Around 3,928 employees were imposed minor penalties while 1,584 were exonerated. Around 5,789 cases or 39 per cent are still under process.

Sixty cases against employees of BS-20 to 22 have been decided and over 50 per cent were punished. Fifteen of them were dismissed, five removed from service, 10 sent on compulsory retirement, two faced reduction in rank. A total of 10 officials of BS-20 and above were imposed minor penalties and 18 were exonerated.

So far, 962 cases have been decided against official of BS-17 to 19 and 43 per cent were given major punishment. Of them, 173 were dismissed, 104 removed from service, 85 sent on compulsory retirement and 58 were reverted. A total of 286 were exonerated and 256 faced minor penalties.

Of the total, 8,199 cases were decided against employees of grade 1 to 16 and only 39 per cent faced major punishment. About 930 officials of BS-1-16 were dismissed, 1,122 removed from service, 717 compulsorily retired and 488 were reverted.

There was no case of corruption or inefficiency in the President and the Chief Executive secretariats, besides parliamentary affairs and the newly created information technology while three cases were reported against employees of Economic Affairs Division.

A total of 536 cases were initiated against employees of AGPR, 121 against cabinet division, 226 against commerce division, 1,555 against communications division, 22 against culture and sports division, 2,998 against defence division, 407 against defence production, 112 against education division, 19 against environment and local government and 365 against establishment division.

Similarly, 668 cases were initiated in the finance division, 247 in food and agriculture, 83 in the foreign office, 181 in health, 171 in housing and works, 694 in industries and production, 265 in information and media development, 1,741 in interior, 338 in Intelligence Bureau, 147 in Kashmir Affairs, 209 in labour and manpower, 9 in law and justice and 45 in narcotics division.

Fifteen cases were initiated by the National Assembly secretariat, 829 by petroleum and natural resources, 26 by Planning Commission, 86 by population welfare, 1,599 by railways, 16 by religious affairs, 1,030 by revenue division, 20 by science and technology, 60 by statistics, 146 by water and power and 21 in women development and social welfare.

Meanwhile, the government has completed 85 per cent of the rightsizing programme in various ministries. Against a target to abolish as many as 26,587 posts on voluntary basis, 22,500 posts have so far been abolished.

The ministries which met their targets to abolish their posts included water and power (10), railways (14,413), religious affairs (7), interior division (212), health (39), establishment division (254), environment (5) and economic affairs (105).

Cabinet division, culture and sports, industries and production, information and media development, labour and manpower, narcotics control, Planning Commission, population welfare, women development and science and technology failed to abolish even a single post against their targets running into many hundreds each.

Communications ministry abolished 6,228 posts against the target of 8,097. Commerce ministry could achieve only 20 per cent of target by reducing 132 posts, education division achieved 18 per cent target with 62 posts, finance division by 11 per cent with reduction of 6 posts, Kashmir affairs by 86 per cent with 774 posts, petroleum 31 per cent with 73 posts, and statistics division 91 per cent with 180 posts.