HYDERABAD: Eleven demoted officials of the Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (HMC) have questioned their demotion on the recommendation of an inquiry held by an irrigation department officer on the directives of the Supreme Court-mandated judicial commission on water and sanitation to their original posts.

According to HMC sources, all these 11 employees have been demoted to their original positions on Thursday evening. “We have issued the required letter regarding cases of these 11 employees in the light of inquiry report,” said sources.

On Wednesday, in a joint representation addressed to the Sindh local government secretary, they said that in the inquiry report submitted to the judicial commission by the chairman task force, the inquiry officer stated that the administrative officer of the HMC did not submit proceedings of the departmental promotion committee (DPC), seniority list, personal files, channel of promotion and rules & regulations to him.

“An incomplete inquiry report was prepared on the basis of misleading information,” they said in their representation. They claimed that the record of all employees was available in the general administration branch of the HMC while service books were kept by the bill clerk.

They held the HMC management responsible for intentionally presenting record before the inquiry officer. The affected officials accused administrative officer (Irfan Shaikh) of playing a negative role to malign them.

The employees said the report emphasised all cases of employees should be streamlined in line with the Supreme Court judgment in two separate cases (CP-193/2013 and CP-89/2011) from 1994 by holding the DPC.

They quoted observation of Amir Hani Muslim, a former apex court judge, who was head of the judicial commission. According to his observation, they said, the commission had called for complete report regarding all employees of the LG department.

The employees claimed that the inquiry officer had observed that officers or employees of the HMC were directed to submit their written statement and a letter dated June 12, was addressed to the HMC’s municipal commissioner (MC).

They said the HMC administration, however, did not inform the officers concerned nor did the inquiry officer send a communication to the 11 employees (the applicants).

“The HMC administration, however, at the behest of influential officers covered up the matter,” they said. They stated that the cases of seven out of the 11 employees, including Aqeel Ahmed Khanzada, Raees Ahmed, Rafique Rajput, Wahab Rajput, Muqeem Shaikh, Zafar and Salahuddin, were already pending decision in Sindh High Court’s Hyderabad circuit bench.

They said that they had submitted the entire record but it was not considered and on the basis of the report, they were reverted to their original posts, which was negation of the Supreme Court order, considering the fact that they had 25-35 years of service to their credit.

They said that not only this but their promotions were also approved by the DPC as per seniority and educational qualification while the SC called for action against those employees whose promotions were illegal. They wondered if all officers or employees were to be demoted to their original position in Pakistan, then why they were still holding the same positions.

Referring to the LG secretary’s letter dated Sept 5, they said that all reverted officers were on the verge of retirement and they would now have to serve under subordination of their juniors, which amounted to sheer injustice and insult.

They called for suspending the said directive till the newly appointed committee scrutinised promotions of all employees of the HMC in line with SC’s orders. They said they should be given an opportunity of personal hearing along with the record before completion of inquiry to decide the fate of all employees.

In a separate application to the Hyderabad mayor and HMC’s municipal commissioner, the applicants have sought repatriation of 53 employees of other departments, who are currently working in the HMC, to parent departments in line with the SC and commission’s directives. They said that one of those 11 employees was directed to report to his parent department and they were also ready to relinquish charge of their positions.

They said that all of their promotions had been cancelled, although some promotions were justified. They said that those employees should be given charge of their positions who were not themselves hit by the orders of the apex court and the judicial commission.

They said that in view of the said directives, officers holding positions in violation of directives should be relieved.

DPC not formed

Sources said that the DPC that was to be formed as per Sept 5 directive of the secretary of the local government had not been formed yet. The DPC was to examine cases of the 11 employees on the basis of seniority-cum-fitness along with their batch mates as per recruitment rules of relevant posts after completion of all formalities within one month.

The Sept 5 letter has been sent to the LG department for confirmation as per government policy, which has not yet been received, according to the sources.

Hyderabad Mayor Syed Tayyab Hussain told Dawn that the DPC was to be formed as required because the HMC had, otherwise, been considering looking into such cases of promotion of employees on its own.

Published in Dawn, September 14th, 2018