LAHORE, Dec 1: Top bureaucracy in Punjab on Saturday decided to strictly follow the recent landmark Supreme Court judgment that guided it how to follow law and resist (political) pressure, and be kind to the subordinate staff by providing them their due without court intervention.

The decisions were taken at a meeting of all administrative secretaries in the Civil Secretariat with Chief Secretary Nasir Khosa in chair.

All secretaries discussed threadbare the Anita Turab case judgment of the Supreme Court and the chief secretary asked them to follow it in letter and spirit.

Try your utmost to follow the guidelines provided by the court on how to follow law and resist undue pressure, the chief secretary was quoted as having directed his colleagues.

And as a first step towards showing kindness to the staff, the chief secretary ordered reinstatement of PCS Officers Association President Rai Manzoor Nasir and General Secretary Shoaib Warriach suspended from service around two years ago for staging a demonstration inside the civil Secretariat.

This he did despite reported disagreement by a couple of administrative secretaries considered as hawks of the chief minister’s team.

Nevertheless, the show cause notices of these two officers who have faced a record seven-time extension in the suspension of their service, were not withdrawn. So is the case with some other provincial services officers who were also punished for the demonstration but were later reinstated.

The meeting also decided to avoid posting government officials as OSDs (sidelined) so as to fully utilize the workforce and avoid ill-will among the staff.

Afterwards around 21 junior rank officials were transferred and posted without making anyone OSD. Those OSDs presently, too were given assignments.

Sources said the chief secretary directed the secretaries to identify all court cases carrying grievances of government employees but could be settled without litigation within a week. Following that the remaining cases should be referred to the advocate general and other law officers of the government for their speedy disposal

“Let us reduce the burden of litigation involving government employees,” he said, asking his colleagues to appoint focal persons for quick settlement of all legal disputes.

The provincial advocate general also attended the meeting to guide the bureaucracy how to get rid of litigation by their staff.

The chief secretary took another important decision with regard to timely payment of pension to the superannuated government employees. He asked all secretaries to create awareness among their staff on how to complete the required documentation at the time of their retirement so that there could be no delay in the payment of their pensions.

“Put the standard operational procedures also on your websites for general knowledge of all employees,” he ordered.