ISLAMABAD: A Senate committee on Tuesday sought a complete record of officials working on deputation in federal government agencies and recommended that those who have completed their tenure must be sent back to their parents departments.

The Senate Standing Committee on Cabinet Secretariat, which met at parliament lodges with Senator Talha Mahmood in the chair, discussed matters of deputation and promotion of government employees.

Establishment Division Joint Secretary Musaddiq Khan briefed the committee about the officers working in the federal government departments on deputation. He also submitted a list of officers to the committee. However, the chairman took notice of the absence of details about the domiciles of the officials.

The committee was told that over 180 officials were working with federal government on deputation.

Senator Javed Abbasi expressed concerns over the number of officers overstaying their period of deputation which was initially three years. The representatives of the Establishment Division said the officials had gone into litigation in the overstaying cases. The committee directed the division to furnish details of all officials working on deputation.

The chairman showed his concern over the fact that most officers had no expertise of the position on which they were deputed. He said all such cases should be sent back to the parent organisations. The Establishment Division must review the matter and chalk out rules on it. He was also concerned about adverse effects on promotions of officers working under individuals sent on deputation.

He said only those officers who were required by the organisations must be sent on deputation. He directed the Establishment Division to provide a one-page summary on every case at least four days ahead of the next meeting.

Discussing the distribution of promotional quota between all the occupational groups from BPS 21 to BPS 22, the Establishment Division shared with the members the details of apportioned posts of the federal secretariat among various occupational groups.

According to the working paper, there were a total of 41 additional secretary and 39 federal secretary level posts.

Discussing a public petition regarding issuance of confirmation orders to government servants after successful completion of their probation period, the chairman of the committee directed the Establishment Division to ensure the issuance of confirmation orders to all such employees.

But the committee took notice of the absence of the petitioner and said in future if the petitioner did not attend the meeting the petition would be dismissed.

Senator Abbasi was of the view that moving a petition without the applicant was not possible since according to the law it was imperative for the petitioner to be present and defend it.

Published in Dawn, August 8th, 2018