Daily Times

PESHAWAR: The office-bearers of the Information Technology Staff Association (ITSA) and All Pakistan Clerks Association, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (APCA) on Friday threatened to stage a protest until the acceptance of their demands. There are 2,500 information technology staff (IT Cadre) in the Khyber province commonly known as computer operators.

President of ITSA Habibullah Khan told Daily Times that on April 24, Chief Minister KP Pervez Khattak approved summary of the upgradation of IT Cadre BS-12 to BS-16 but the Finance and Establishment Departments had withheld the file which was delaying implementation. An official in the Chief Minister Secretariat confirmed that the Chief Minister had signed a summary to this effect on April 24 and it had been sent to the Finance Department for further action.

The computer operators would go on strike soon after the Eid holidays and would boycott their duties, demanding the approval of upgradation of their Cadre in Province. The official of IT Cadre said that the computer operators had already been given BS-16 in other three provinces and in the federal government departments. He said that the data entry operators, who were serving in BS-14, would also get BS-16 according to the summary.

He said that their upgradation had been executed under Section 38 (E) of the Constitution of Pakistan, which called for reducing disparity in the income and earnings of individuals, including persons in various classes of the service of Pakistan. In November, 2015 the Supreme Court of Pakistan and Peshawar High Court (PHC) had also given verdicts in their favour. He hoped that the orders concerning upgradation of their posts would be issued before Eidul Fitr, the president added.

Pleading anonymity, an official of the Finance Department said, afterward, the upgradation file of IT Cadre upgradation had been kept pending for 20 days in the Finance Department and after forwarding the file for further course of action into the Establishment Department, the file was pending in the Establishment Department for no discernible reason again. The officer-bearers of IT Cadre staff said that a lobby was involved in delaying tactics to follow the directives of the chief minister and pay no heed to the verdict to the Supreme Court of Pakistan.

President of the APCA Muhammad Aslam and ITSA President Habibullah Khan categorically asserted that after Eid, no official work would be carried out and agitation would be held until their demands were fulfilled. Minister Finance Muzaffar Syed said that the issue of the IT staff would be resolved in a few weeks. After completing some of the formalities, the Cadres would be upgraded.