Validity of salary raise by provinces questioned

Ball is in Auditor General’s court now

ISLAMABAD: The recent phenomenal raises given by some provincial governments to key federal as well as provincial officials are violation of the constitution, a top legal mind of federal government said.

The official source, on condition of not being named, said that for being violation of Article 240 of the constitution it is the responsibility of the Auditor General of Pakistan to intervene and ensure that the raise given to federal government officials by the provinces without the approval of the federal government is stopped and withdrawn.

The source said that under Article 240 of the constitution, condition of service of persons in the service of Pakistan shall be determined by the parliament. The Article reads as: “Subject to the Constitution, the appointments to and the conditions of service of persons in the service of Pakistan shall be determined -- (a) in the services of the Federation, posts in connection with the affairs of the Federation and All-Pakistan Services, by or under Act of (Majlis-e-Shoora (Parliament); and (b) in the case of the services of a Province and post in connection with the affairs of a Province, by or under Act of the Provincial Assembly.”

The source said that in case of the federal employees including chief secretaries and inspector generals, any raise to be offered to them has to be done by the federal government with the approval of the parliament. Without the federal government and parliament’s approval, the provinces can’t change the terms and conditions of the service of such employees.

In the case of the provincial government employees, the respective government can give any raise but only with the sanction of the concerned provincial assembly.

Sources in the finance ministry also have their serious reservations about the recent raise in the salary package of chief secretaries, inspector generals and others in some of the provinces. It is said that since the provinces have already allowed the raises, illegally and in violation of the constitution, therefore now it is the responsibility of the Auditor General of Pakistan to proceed and block the additional raises recently allowed.

However, the provincial governments insist that the chief ministers are authorized to allow such raises without referring the matter to the provincial assembly or federal government. They say that in the past such practices were never objected to by any authority.

Without the involvement of the legislature and in the absence of any recommendation from Pay and Pension Committee, the Punjab, Sindh and Balochistan governments have recently allowed raises in pay package to their provincial as well as federal employees.

In the case of Punjab and Balochistan, hefty raises in the name of senior post allowance were given to chief secretaries and IGPs. The Balochistan government also sought from the federal government to include this raise in the pension of chief secretaries and inspector generals.

In the case of Sindh, the utility allowance for all the officials and officers working in the provincial secretariat has been doubled. However, the chief secretary and IGP Sindh have not yet been given the raise like their contemporaries in Punjab and Balochistan.

Initially, it was the Punjab government, which a couple of months back allowed Rs400,000 and Rs375,000 per month senior post allowance to the chief secretary and the IGP respectively. Later the registrar LHC was given Rs400,000 per month senior post allowance. 

Besides the hefty allowance, the Punjab government recently approved a post retirement package for retired chief secretaries and IGPs. The package even in case of the death of serving or retired CS and IGP would continue for life for the families of these officials.

Through an executive order, the officials working in Punjab provincial secretariat were also allowed special allowance which will be 50% of their basic pay as frozen on June 30, 2011. Previously they were allowed 20% special allowance, which is also known as secretariat allowance.