ISLAMABAD: At least 400 officers of the Ministry of Planning Development and Special Initiatives, who were left out of the notification regarding an ‘executive allowance’, announced by the federal government on Tuesday night, have decided to challenge the decision in the Islamabad High Court (IHC).
The officers said the allowance was “discriminatory” in nature and against the decisions of the federal cabinet as they urged the chief justice of the Islamabad High Court (IHC) to take notice of the notification that approved up to 150 per cent raise in the basic salaries of the officers working in the federal secretariat and the field administration of the Islamabad Capital Territory. A petition, which is in the works, will be filed in the high court soon. They have also threatened to observe a pen-down strike if the issue remained unresolved.
Out of the 400 planning ministry officers who were denied the incentive, at least 150 belonged to the technical cadre and 250 to the economist cadre. Expressing reservations over the decision, they claimed they have made significant contributions to the ministry but were still ignored in the incentive package.
It may be noted here that the Ministry of Planning Development and Special Initiatives consists of several technical and economist sections which failed to meet the supposed criteria for the executive allowance.
Executive allowance
According to a notification issued by the Finance Division on Tuesday night, there will be 150 per cent (1.5 times) raise in the running basic salaries of all the government officers in grades 17 to 22 with effect from July 1, 2022. However, the ‘discriminatory’ notification excluded several officers from the technical and economist cadre of the planning ministry serving under the same roof.
After approval of this allowance, the top bureaucrats are expected to get a raise between Rs150,000 and Rs200,000. This increase is in addition to the 15pc pay raise announced by the government in the federal budget passed by the National Assembly, only three weeks ago.
Published in Dawn, July 21st, 2022
