ISLAMABAD: All government officers appointed by the PPP government in violation of rules and rulings of superior courts over the past five years will be shown the door.
The Prime Minister’s Office issued on Thursday a directive to all federal ministries, divisions, autonomous bodies and corporations to prepare lists of their employees in this category.
Moreover, the Prime Minister’s Office placed a ban with immediate effect on all categories of recruitments in the federal government.
The office also took notice of the inductions which it said were being made despite the new government’s clear policy against expansion in the size of the government.
The official letter routed through the Establishment Division has sought a detailed response from all federal government institutions on the hiring by the former PPP government under two different heads.
One, details of all appointments during the past five years where any of the guiding principles regarding employment in public sector and superior court judgments have not been met.
Second, all departments will furnish a separate list on the recruitments made from Jan 1 this year because there were reports that scores of appointments were made without meeting the required criteria during last days of the previous government.
The same letter also directed that each ministry, division, corporation under the federal government will provide a comprehensive list on the number of vacancies as of June 20, 2013 along with details of grade, eligibility criteria and mode of employment. The Prime Minister’s Office has set a deadline of one week for the exercise.
When asked a senior government official rejected a perception that the PML-N government was going back to its policy of 1990s when after coming to power in 1997 it removed federal government employees inducted by the PPP government from 1993 to 1996.
The official, who was not allowed to reveal his identity, said that under the direction the Prime Minister’s Office had only sought information about the recruitments made in violation of government rules.
He said that over the past five years a number of cases had been taken to superior courts, with aggrieved parties challenging appointments made against rules and courts had given due rulings.
There is nothing political about this exercise, he added.