ISLAMABAD: The chairman of National Assembly’s Special Committee on Affected Employees Advocate Qadir Khan Mandokhail on Thursday said that despite all the pressures he would ensure regularisation of employees who have been working on contracts for more than a decade or hired through other companies.

Qadir Khan Mandokhail, while talking to Dawn, agreed that secretaries of different ministries were not cooperating with the committee.

“However, I am a legal expert and can handle the bureaucrats easily because there are many legal way outs. Even courts cannot interfere in the proceedings of the committee so bureaucrats, who have been trying to get stay orders, will be disappointed. I will make sure that all the employees are regularised,” he said.

While replying to a question regarding Khursheed Shah’s committee, MNA Mandokhail said that at that time PPP was fully empowered and there was will to regularise the employees.

“However, now I have managed to get written direction from the Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif regarding ministries to follow the directions of the committee. “Moreover, I am trying to give powers to ministries to regularise employees from Basic Pay Scale (BPS) 1 to 19 by their own or without involving Federal Public Service Commission (FPSC),” he said.

In 2009, the PPP government had decided to regularise contractual employees and a committee of the cabinet headed by Syed Khursheed Ahmad Shah regularized 100,000 daily wagers, who had been working in various federal department departments and ministries.

However, a number of employees were either left or could not be regularised despite the directives of the Khursheed Shah’s committee.

Last year, this government decided to form a committee headed by PPP legislator Qadir Khan Mandokhail, which has been holding meetings and making efforts to regularise employees of over 150 departments of 39 divisions.

Contract employees belonging to different departments of the federal government, while talking to Dawn, said that unfortunately employees could not be regularised despite a number of meetings.

“There are teachers, health professionals and employees of a number of departments who regularly attend the meetings but so far could not find any headway. Although members belonging to PPP look serious about the regularisation of employees but some of other coalition parties look least interested. Similarly we see bureaucratic hurdles as secretaries don’t to attend the meetings,” one of the employees said whishing not to be quoted.

Another employee said that the Speaker of the National Assembly constituted the special committee on affected employees but unfortunately it does not seem to be as influential as Khursheed Shah’s committee was.

“After listening to grievances the committee gave directions to different ministries to reinstate some employees and regularize the services of the doctors of different hospitals, teachers and other employees of different ministries. On Dec 25 the committee directed to secretaries of all ministries to regularise the services of their employees but order could not be implemented,” he said.

“Employees have been working for many years on contract basis in Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences, Federal General Hospital, Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (Drap) and other departments but could not be regularised,” he said.

Published in Dawn, February 3rd, 2023