LAHORE: The ongoing rift between Lahore Development Authority (LDA) employees and officers on deputation working in the authority on higher grades and lucrative seats has intensified as LDA’s employees have refused to work under them as well as to challenge the deputation policy of the government in the court of Law.
In this regard, a meeting of LDA’s own officers held in LDA Sports Complex here Tuesday in which more than 100 officers participated. The officers participated in the meeting belonged to various cadres of LDA, including General Cadre, IT, Engineering and Town Planning.
The senior officers, including Ayesha Mutahir, Humaira Sharif, Sumaira Ali Khan, Nadeem Akhtar Zaidi, Shakeel Anjum Minhas, Azhar Ali, Khawaja Tauqeer, Farqaleet Meer, Khawaja Javed Aslam, Ahmad Mumtaz Ali Khan, Shahbaz Ghurki, Muhammad Saleem, Moazzam Rasheed, Raza Wattoo, Khurram Yaqoob, Khawaja Mehfooz, Haroon Rasheed, Abdul Basit Qamar, Sibtain Qureshi, Syed Habban Subhani, Jahangir Iqbal, Bilal Chughtai, Mansha Bhatti and Rehan Ather while many deputy directors and assistant directors also attended the meeting. The meeting is first of its kind in the history of LDA when such a big number of LDA’s own officers gathered for a same objective, said the participants who also condemned abuse of deputation policy and questioned that why a grade 17 outsider is allowed to work on grade 19 seat in LDA whereas as per deputation policy deputationist can’t work on two grades up. A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was also signed by the officers, which stated that all the officers of LDA have joined hands for taking initiative to improve the working environment and to develop a merit-based system for LDA employees with the objective that all the employees will perform their jobs with full responsibility and dedication and provide better services to the general public as well as the organisation.
The MoU stated that all the officers of LDA are equal without any prejudice and biasness and deserve equal employment rights and respect as per merit and without any discrimination.
“No movement of officers will be person specific rather merit and for protecting the overall rights of LDA officers; therefore, the movement against transfer on deputation will not restrict to the post of directors but all the officers will join hands to support this cause for the posts of higher management positions i.e. Additional Director General(s), Chief Metropolitan Planner, Chief Town Planner, Chief Engineer and etc,” the MoU added.
The speakers said that the officers of BS-17 on deputation are not only working on the posts of BS-19 but also enjoying the powers, perks and privileges of the posts of BS-19. Furthermore, the officers of BS-17 on deputation in LDA are also acting as the reporting and countersigning officers of the LDA who are either working on same Basic Pay Scale or of Higher Basic Pay Scale, which is not only discrimination for LDA officers but also a clear deprivation of the basic and moral right of LDA officers, thus disturbing the whole service structure of LDA and becoming the cause of de-motivation for LDA officers.
The MoU demanded the management that the facilities which were not provided to LDA employees of similar scale will not be extended to any of the officers on deputation (other than government rules); otherwise, LDA employees will join their hands. They announced that if the management didn’t act on the MoU, the officers will stop working under the officers on deputation besides taking legal remedies to protect their rights.
Earlier, senior officers of LDA had submitted a written application to LDA DG expressing resentment over the posting of officers of BS-17 transferred on deputation in LDA and working on the posts of BS-19 and acting as reporting officer and countersigning officer of LDA officers working in BS-18 and BS-17.