PESHAWAR, April 25: Some 250 employees of the finance and planning department, civil secretariat, Fata, have not been getting salaries since August 2006.

The affected staffers have blamed bigwigs of the secretariat for this state of affairs.

An official source told Dawn that a summary approved by a high-level committee of the secretariat had recommended extending contract of the employees and immediate release of their salaries, but it was awaiting consent of Governor Ali Mohammad Jan Aurakzai.

The affected employees say they had been performing duties in different tribal agencies since August 2006 without salary and the civil secretariat is yet to issue a notification regarding extension of their contract.

Sources said the then governor’s Fata secretariat had created the finance and planning department in 2005 to prepare an annual development programme, ensure financial management, maintain records of financial matters and conduct audit of various accounts in the seven units of Fata. The department was further devolved to the agency level and about 250 employees were hired on contract.

The sources said the civil secretariat reviewed powers and functions of the department when controversy erupted between political agents and executive officers of the finance and planning department over delegation of powers.

Political agents had refused to delegate financial powers to executive officers of the department. Officials said legal procedures had not been followed during recruitment of the employees of the finance and planning department. The secretariat had not finalised their terms of reference at the time which caused legal hurdles.

The secretariat had constituted a committee headed by the secretary for finance, Fata, to resolve the dispute and formulate powers and functions of executive officers. A sub-committee had prepared a report which recommended that the finance and planning department would exist at the agency level.

It had also recommended extension of the employees’ contract by the secretariat till preparation of their service rules. However, the secretariat has neither relieved the employees nor renewed their contract.

The committee had also outlined functions of the department, such as preparation of the annual development programme, planning and approval of development projects, maintenance of accounts and preparation of annual audit. However, the secretariat is yet to notify functions of the department.