LAHORE, June 18: The Punjab government has yet to give a legal cover to the 6,000 traffic wardens it intends to recruit next month in five big cities in the province.

Under the Police Order 2002, only constables, ASIs and ASPs can directly be recruited in the police department anywhere in the country. And there is no other law under which traffic wardens can directly be inducted in government service.

Official sources confirmed on Sunday that the government had not so far been able to find a legal justification for the recruitment of traffic wardens, who should be graduates under the plan. The provincial law, home and police departments were, nevertheless, considering two proposals regarding the provision of legal cover to the posts proposed to be created under Chief Minister Pervaiz Elahi’s directions.

The first proposal was to have the Police Order 2002 amended but the problem was that this could be done only after an approval by the president. The second proposal was to create a traffic authority and to place it under the provincial transport department or allow it function independently. The authority, if created, would definitely be independent of the police department, sources said.

They said under the second proposal, traffic wardens would have all legal powers to regulate traffic and punish violators on the pattern of the officials of the Anti-Corruption Establishment, motorway police and the FIA.

The officials said the government could also recruit traffic wardens first and provide a legal cover to them afterwards. This had already been done with the emergency service which was first created under an executive order and then was given a legal cover through assembly legislation last week, they said.

The traffic wardens would be recruited initially only for Lahore, Rawalpindi, Multan, Faisalabad and Gujranwala. In the remaining cities, they said, the traffic police would continue to function under the police department.

The provincial government had in February decided to recruit graduate constables to improve the traffic management system in the five cities. The chief minister later directed the officials concerned to recruit ASIs instead. But since this could not be done under the law, the post was renamed as traffic warden, which is still alien to the law of the land.

According to the plan, the traffic wardens would be given 250cc motorcycles, pick-ups, speed guns and Radars to regulate the ever-increasing load of traffic in the five big cities. They would work in eight-hour shifts.