ISLAMABAD: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) government has approached the apex court to allow it to extend superannuation age for retirement of KP civil servants from 60 to 63 years.

Last week there were reports in media that the federal government is considering reducing the age of retirement to 55 for the government employees and is engaged in consultations. However, Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Ali Muhammad Khan told Senate on July 17 that there is no truth in the reports to reduce retirement age from 60 to 55 years.

Advocate General Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Shumail Butt KP filed an appeal before the apex court on behalf of Chief Secretary, Speaker Provincial Assembly, Secretary Finance Department, Secretary Establishment Department and Secretary Law, Parliamentary Affair & Human Rights Department challenging the Peshawar High Court judgment.

The PHC on the petitions of President and General Secretary of Prosecution Officers' Welfare Association KP, and Senior Public Prosecutor (respondents) on 19th February, 2020, struck down the amendment in Section 13 of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Civil Servant Act 1973. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Provincial Assembly had passed the Amendment in Section 13 of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Civil Servant Act 1973 through Amendment Act NO.XXX of 2019.

The Section 13 of Act states in clause (a) after the word "qualifying service" the word and commas "or attaining the age of fifty-five (55) years whichever is later" shall be inserted and in Clause (b) for the word "Sixty" the word "Sixty-Three (63)" shall be substituted.

The KP government raised objection to the PHC judgment and questioned whether the Provincial Assembly of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa was not competent to legislate regarding the age of superannuation independently?

Whether there was enough legitimate competence available with the Provincial Assembly to amend Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Civil Servant Act, 1973 by virtue of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Civil Servant (Amendment) Act, 2019.

Whether the powers independently available to Provincial Legislature under Article 240(b) can be made subservient to the whims of Federal Government or that of other Provinces?

Article 240 (b) says the appointments to and the conditions of service of persons shall be determined in services of a Province and posts in connection with the affairs of a Province, by or under Act of the Provincial Assembly.

The advocate general KP submitted that the provincial government had started working on pension reforms since 2016 and the report was also shared with the Federal Government and in response to Federal Government letter dated 11/06/2019, the Government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa went on with its plan of pension reforms by collecting the Pension Data.

According to it most of Civil Servants opt to voluntarily retire at the age of 45 years by completing the qualifying services i.e. 25 years while some employees retired on attaining the age of superannuation. Those Civil Servants who get retirement at an early age get other job opportunities like consultancy by virtue of training and experience gained in Government Service while receiving pension from Government. The appeal said therefore comprehensive groundwork and analysis was carried out before proceeding with the Amendment, the revision of retirement age will result in saving of approximately Rs.18 billion per year for three years so as to reduce the pension expenditure and liabilities.

The provincial government intends that the saving made by it through reforms will be spent on Development, Health, Education and Social Sectors to generate more employment opportunities to large numbers of its population along-side of general population.

In view of these facts and circumstances the KP government had decided to make necessary Amendment in the Section 13 of Civil Servant Act 1973. In this respect a proper summary was prepared which was placed before the Cabinet for discussion and approval. The cabinet approved it and then a proper bill was presented before the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Provincial Assembly.

Finance Ministry officials stated Friday that the issue of pension is also being addressed through bringing reforms in the pension system and Auditor General of Pakistan Revenues has sought three months time to computerize the entire civil pension system . Discussions with military accountant general are also under process with the suggestion by him that a pilot project would be initiated from Kasur, Punjab. They added that pension is a very complicated issue and the government has been trying to remove discrepancies and ghost pensioners to fix the problem in a sustainable way.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2020