The Sindh government has decided, in principle, to take up the case of non-devolution of two major institutions of Federal Labour Ministry (devolved) - Employees Old Age Benefits Institution (EOBI) and Workers Welfare Fund (WWF) - in the next meeting of Council of Common Interests (CCI), Business Recorder learnt here on Thursday.
Sources inside the Labour Department told BR that this very important decision was taken at a meeting a few days back. The meeting was chaired by Minister for Labour at his office. Secretary Labour, Director Labour, Deputy Directors and other officials attended the meeting. They discussed the opinions of other provinces over this issue, sources said.
Secretary Labour briefed the meeting that two provinces - Punjab and Balochistan - had endorsed Sindh's opinion and both were in the favour of devolution of EOBI and WWF, they said. However, only KP had opposed Sindh's stance over the matter of non-devolution of EOBI and WWF, he told the participants. He said that EOBI and WWF were attached-institutions of Federal Labour and Manpower Ministry. This very important ministry was devolved to provinces following the passage of 18th Constitutional Amendment. But interestingly, federal government had devolved all subjects related to Labour Ministry except for EOBI and WWF.
Currently, EOBI and WWF are running under newly-established Ministry of Human Resources Development headed by Federal Minister Chaudhry Wajahat Hussein of PML-Q, the secretary reportedly told the meeting. According to sources, the Secretary further said that soon after devolution, the Labour Department had got administrative and financial control of offices, staff, funds and other items of Central Inspectorate of Mines (CIM), Directorate of Dock Workers Safety (DDWS), Directorate of Workers Education (DWE), Implementation Tribunal for Newspaper Employees (ITNE), Labour Market Information System and Analysis Unit (LMISAU), National Institute of Labour Administration Training (NILAT), National Talent Pool (NTP), National Training Bureau (NTB), Pakistan Manpower Institute (PMI) and Skill Development Council (SDC).
On the occasion, Minister for Labour Amir Nawab asked the Secretary to prepare the case, which would be taken up at next meeting of CCI with approval of competent authorities, they said. Sources in Islamabad told Business Recorder that the next meeting of CCI would be held after Eid. The matter would be added to the agenda provided Sindh should serious interest in the matter.