27 ad hoc FDA employees yet to be adjusted in KP irrigation dept despite clear orders

PESHAWAR: The 27 ad hoc employees of the Fata Development Authority have been waiting for more than a year to be adjusted in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Irrigation Department despite clear orders by the Peshawar High Court, the Senate Standing Committee on States and Frontier Regions (SAFRON) and the provincial secretary establishment.

Some of the affected officers pointed out that the Senate Standing Committee on SAFRON in a recent meeting recommended and directed the additional chief secretary, KP to issue notification of adjustment of the 27 ad hoc employees of the Fata Development Authority (FDA) in the provincial irrigation department. They recalled that the Peshawar High Court earlier granted status quo with interim relief of continuation of services of these employees till the court’s final judgment. However, the irrigation department has yet to provide relief to the affected employees and release their salaries.

While these 27 employees are running from pillar to post to seek their rights, four other staff members of the erstwhile FDA are still attending office at the FDA building and getting paid. They include one deputy director, one project manager and two assistant directors attached with the project support unit (PSU) of FDA’s Small Dams section. It may mentioned that after merger of Fata with KP, the FDA’s PSU of the Small Dams section was shifted to the KP irrigation department under a notification issued on November 15, 2018. However, these 27 employees couldn’t be adjusted even though they have served the organization for eight years. Among them are eight officers who were kidnapped from Waziristan in 2016 while performing their duty and were released after suffering the ordeal and paying ransom to the kidnappers.

The posts available in the PSU Small Dams section are being filled by the KP irrigation department officers instead of adjusting the out-of-job 27 ad hoc employees.

Some of the ad hoc employees were lucky to be adjusted in different government departments including planning and development, communication and works, TEVTA, Skills Development and FIFA Oil and Gas Development.

Meanwhile, the secretary establishment, KP also issued clear instructions to secretary irrigation to adjust these 27 officers of FDA under the Fata-DA Regulation (Repeal) Ordinance, 2020. These instructions have yet to be implemented.