Dressed in a three-piece suit and a tie, the man at the Planning Commission was visibly exasperated after being shunted from department to department of the federal government. He is being moved around in the hope of a position since the devolution of the ministry he was originally posted in left him without a post.

“It is strange that after devolution, we cannot even convince the junior staff to bring us tea,” said the man, a grade-21 employee on deputation at the Planning Commission.

Under the 18th Amendment, the federal government devolved 17 ministries including Women Development; Minorities Affairs, Sports, Environment, Health, Food and Agriculture, Labour and Manpower, Local Government and Rural Development, Livestock and Dairy Development, Special Initiatives, Zakat and Ushr, Population Welfare, Youth Affairs, Education, Social Welfare, Special Education, and Tourism and Culture.

As a result, over thirty thousand employees have been rendered ‘homeless’.

An official of the Establishment Division said that the total strength of devolved employees is around 38,400 of which 17,440 are civil servants (officer grade) while the remaining 20,050 are employees.

Most of the staff and officers of the devolved ministries have since been sent on deputation to departments such as Planning and Development, Cabinet Division and various ministries. In fact, the number of officers based in Islamabad is between 4,000 and 5,000 while 14,390 employees are still based in Islamabad; the rest have been posted to provinces.

However, majority of those posted in Islamabad complain that they do not have a place to sit or any work to do. Hence, one can see scores of staff outside the Shaheed-i-Millat Secretariat with applications in hand, trying to meet officials concerned in the Management Services (MS) Wing of Establishment Division and later looking for some powerful person who may help them in their quest for a position.

“It is a waste of human resources: the limbo will also negatively impact my seniority,” said an employee. Out of a position due to the devolution of the Health Ministry, he was standing outside the Shaheed-i-Millat Secretariat, where the Management Services (MS) Wing of Establishment Division is located.

Although government employees are barred from talking to media, one office assistant in the newly-created Ministry of Professional and Technical Training (MPTT) said on the basis of anonymity that he had drifted between departments for almost two months.“I was placed under the Cabinet Division after devolution but this was on paper only,” said the office assistant, “I used to go to the MS Wing daily. Luckily, one day I came here to meet a friend and MPTT Minister Riaz Pirzada was passing by. I gathered the courage to ask him to get me placed in this ministry.”

While many of these employees are technically under deputation at various ministries since the devolution, they fear they will end up being placed in the surplus pool or transferred to the provinces.

“The government is giving us 20 per cent of basic pay as deputation allowance, but this idle time has a negative effect on our ability to work,” said another staff member of the former ministry of food and agriculture, who has been placed under the Cabinet Division.

In the meantime, the chaotic situation has encouraged the lazier employees. One officer of the Planning Commission told Dawn that the peon they received under devolution is never around. “Whenever we get hold of him, he claims he was roaming around because there is no place for him to sit,” the officer said.

The issue of official vehicles is another problem the government and the surplus officials are grappling with. Some officers have taken their official vehicles with them and are trying to get them regularised, and some others have surrendered the vehicles to the Cabinet Division.

On his part, Senator Raza Rabbani, the architect of the devolution plan, said that not even a single employee of the devolved ministries has been rendered jobless nor will any of the employees be placed in surplus. He said that it was ensured that all of them were to be accommodated in other ministries and departments of federal government.

“The government is in process of making a law to safeguard the seniority of the staff and officers who are under deputation,” he said.

The Establishment Division too insists that all the staff members and officers have been adjusted in other ministries and departments and the process has almost been completed. However, the reality on the ground in Islamabad is different.

In fact, the Establishment Division has also written to the Finance Ministry that all staff members and officers have been adjusted and that there are none that are surplus.

However, what remains unclear is how future requirements would be met if new ministries are created.

This is a concern because the government is planning to create some new ministries to accommodate the national level functions of former ministries such as health and education. Officials of the Establishment Division said that if required, employees would be called back from their newly-assigned ministries to be posted at new setups.

In other words, the game of musical chairs is far from over for many government servants.