KASUR, Nov 2: District community organisation officers are drawing salaries without any assignments as the Punjab government has yet to notify their proposed job description, Dawn has learnt.

The grade-18 post of community organisation officers was created in August 2007 and officers were posted (without any written notification) in each district of the Punjab. As per the proposed job description, the officers were to act as representatives of the Local Government (LG) and Community Development departments in districts and to handle personnel and management of union council administrations.

They were also to prepare capacity building plans for union officials and conduct of their training programmes. They were also to collect and maintain statistical information and socio-economic data on districts besides resolving all such matters beyond the authority of union council nazims. They were to register citizen community boards (CCBs) and prepare monthly reports of CCB projects.

Most of the officers promoted as community organisation officers, however, transferred themselves as tehsil municipal officers or LG assistant director using political connections. Junior officers having no influence were appointed replaced them who now feel themselves cornered. They have no office to perform their duty and they are getting the salary of grade 17 and not the promised grade 18. The only job they have done is they recruited union council secretaries in the regime of former chief minister Pervaiz Elahi.

Despite the passage of one year, the government has failed to notify the service rules of the officers which hampered their promotions from BS 17 to BS 18.—Afzal Ansari