MUZAFFARABAD: Notwith­stan­ding its publicly expressed grievances regarding paucity of funds, the Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) government has approved an “inflated” allowance in favour of two ‘lent officers’ in a move that has drawn flak from the civil society.

According to a notification issued by the finance department, the chief secretary and inspector general of police (IGP) would get Rs400,000 and Rs375,000 per month, respectively, as “superior executive allowance” from Dec 1, and the amount - Rs 5.44 million in the ongoing fiscal year - would be adjusted in the revised budget estimates for 2020-21.

The chief secretary, IGP and finance secretary are among five officers posted in the AJK by the federal government and are commonly referred to as ‘lent officers.’

Although the notification was issued late last month, it was kept secret instead of its circulation to all offices concerned as a common practice.

Chief secretary, IGP will get Rs400,000, Rs375,000 per month from Dec 1

When contacted by Dawn, Finance Minister Dr Najeeb Naqi defended the step, saying since all four provinces and Gilgit-Baltistan were giving this allowance to their chief secretaries and IGPs, the AJK government had “just followed the suit for the sake of uniformity”.

However, when asked if it was binding upon the AJK government to follow every move by the provinces, particularly when it was on record about shortage of funds, he maintained that this grant would not have any “major monetary implications”.

He said the government had taken the decision after a summary to this effect was moved by the Services and General Administration Department (S&GAD), citing examples from other provinces.

S&GAD Secretary Dr Liaquat Husain told Dawn that the decision was taken on the basis of “parity” with other provinces.

“These officers are at a loss in terms of salary as compared to their colleagues in other provinces,” he said.

The finance department has repeatedly held that there is no parity with other provinces (mainly the Punjab) and has warned employees from time to time against citing this principle to gain any benefits.

Early last month, AJK Prime Minister Raja Farooq Haider had claimed in a tweet that his government was facing problems in payment of salaries and pensions to its employees after an alleged cut of Rs15 billion by the central government in the former’s share in “variable grant”.

Civil society was up in arms about the surreptitiously issued notification after someone uploaded it on social media.

“At a time when private sector organisations are laying off employees or subjecting them to harsh salary cuts, there seems to be no end to the “generosity” towards the already well paid lent officers in the AJK. This notification is a glaring example and shouldn’t go unnoticed,” tweeted famous Kash­miri social activist Naila Altaf Kayani along with the image of the notification.

Political analyst Abdul Hakim Kashmiri regretted that every AJK government had been going the extra mile to pander to the ‘lent officers’, notwithstanding its scant resources.

“When it comes to providing the basic amenities to the public, the government sheds crocodile tears on alleged shortage of funds. But we don’t see any such dearth when it comes to provision of luxuries to the ruling elite and bureaucracy,” he remarked.

AJK’s Senior Minister Chaudhry Tariq Farooq, who also retweeted a tweet against this approval, appeared to be speechless on the issue.

He just wrote: “Without comments”.

The AJK High Court had recently set aside three notifications, issued in June 2006, June 2011 and March 2017, granting certain benefits to AJK chief secretaries and IGPs after their retirement from any position in Pakistan.

Published in Dawn, December 28th, 2020