Sacked IESCO Officers Demand Restoration Of Service

ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 20th August, 2016) : The sacked officers of Islamabad Electric Supply Company (IESCO) on Monday demanded restoration of their services. Addressing a press conference here, they maintained that they were illegally terminated.

They were recruited in Grade 17 and 18 after a due process of tests and interviews, they added. Engineer Adeel Asghar alleged that the IESCO administration stopped them to work on August 9 quoting a 1986 notification of the Establishment Division. Since they were recruited under WAPDA Rules 2005, the said notification could not be invoked in their case, he added. He alleged that they were sacked on the directives of Secretary Water and Power. When contacted, Director General Human Resource IESCO Raja Saqlain told APP that the sacked 87 officers were hired on contract for one year and they were relieved of their services on the expiry of their contract period.

They tried to take stay orders from civil and high courts, which they were not granted, he added. Raja Saqlain said the matter was sub-judice and advised the protesting sacked officers not to indulge in negative activities.

It may be mentioned that 87 officers of Islamabad Electricity Supply Company (IESCO) were sacked for not being appointed in violation of merit a year ago. An inquiry committee had declared their appointment non-transparent and against merit. The Water and Power Ministry had directed the Pakistan Electric Power Company (PEPCO) to hold an inquiry into irregularities in appointments.

After the inquiry report declared the inductions illegal, the Water and Power Secretary issued directives to the IESCO to terminate the officers from service. Last year, the Ministry of Water and Power had sacked IESCO Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Yousaf Awan for his alleged involvement in illegal hiring of some 2,000 employees. The 87 officers were also appointed during the time of former IESCO CEO Yousaf Awan and Director General Human Resource (DGHR) Tariq Mahmood. The ministry had already repatriated Tariq Mehmood to his parent department Intelligence Bureau as he was also found to have played a major role in hiring people in the company.