PESHAWAR, Dec 23: The NWFP government has been advised to revive the posts of assistant directors and create 105 new posts in the directorate of probation and reclamation.

A shortage of staff has been affecting the performance of the directorate, which has assumed greater importance in view of the ongoing judicial sector reforms and the introduction of the Juvenile Justice System Ordinance of 2000.

The new posts would cost the government Rs5.745 million a year. At present, there are only 13 probation officers to look after 1,583 prisoners released on probation across the province.

In some cases, one officer has to look after three or more districts. The prisoners include 99 juvenile offenders and 21 women.

The director for probation and reclamation, Moalim Jan, said that a summary had already been moved on the issue. Mr Jan said that they had also requested for the creation of 13 new posts of male probation officers and seven posts of women officers.

The post of assistant director, a divisional level position, was abolished when the devolution plan was implemented in 2001, eliminating the administrative division. He said that the post of the assistant director should be in BPS-17 like the rest of the provinces. Previously, these posts were in BPS-16.

In the absence of women probation officers, men used to look after women prisoners released on probation, which was against rules.

By re-activating the probation directorate, the burden on central prisons would be reduced because there was a large number of prisoners who could be released either on parole or on probation, said Mr Jan.

The director said that they had suggested to the government that the posts could be created in a phased manner. In the first phase, 42 posts, including three posts of assistant directors in Peshawar, Bannu and Abbottabad should be created.

Four posts of male probation officers and three women officers should be created in 2007-08, Mr Jan said. The posts also included clerical and other subordinate staff.

In the second phase, 33 posts should be created in 2008-09 while the rest of the posts should be sanctioned in the next fiscal year.