Nearly 260 Assistant Superintendents of Jails (ASJs) out of the total 525 recruited through the Punjab Public Service Commission (PPSC) have left their jobs owing to lack of service structure, promotion criterion and non-availability of basic facilities like 'washrooms'.
Presently, around 265 ASJs are performing their duties," reads a letter written to the Punjab Inspector General for Prisons by over 53 ASJs as signatories. The letter says that ASJs perform their duties for 12-14 hours a day amid non-conducive environment. They complained that in all departments including the law enforcement agencies, working hours are fixed while there is no such limit in the jail department for which no additional benefit are given to the prison staff.
In addition, the letter says, a Lahore High Court Bench had also directed the high-ups of the Punjab prisons and other relevant authorities to improve service and promotion structure of the ASJs but no one has so far sought suggestions from the ASJs Association. They further demanded of the government to take immediate steps to retain the existing strength of ASJs by providing comprehensive and well-defined service structure and promoting jail officers after five to seven years of service. The duty timings should be restricted to eight hours and night allowance should be given to the personnel performing night duties besides allowing weekly off days. They suggested creating grade-17 post of Senior Assistant Superintendent of Jail (SASJs) in all prisons. The direct recruitment of Deputy Superintendent of Jails (DSJs) should be made from the existing staff, they suggested.
The DIGs concerned should withdraw powers from the Superintendents Jails (SJs) of assigning duties to the ASJs. The authorities concerned should issue appropriate standard operating procedures (SOPs) for the SJs in this regard. The right to produce criminals in courts should be withdrawn from Punjab and be given to the prison officers.
The DSJs should be promoted as per their 30 percent quota while the ASJs should be given powers in the Punjab Prisons rules so that they could take some decisions according to their discretion. "According to the rules, the SJs and the DSJs are responsible for every activity in prisons but mostly the ASJs have to bear the brunt in case of violation of discipline which is against the law," the letter claims.
According to the document, the Punjab Prisons is the first department of the country where the strength of senior officers is more than those of junior officers. Approximately, there are nine to 13 ASJs for every jail and their basic scale is grade-16 while the strength of chief warders, who are grade-9 officers, is not more than four persons in each jail. Therefore, the strength of chief warders should be increased by introducing a new post of grade-14 for them.
They claimed that many SJs and DSJs were given rapid promotions in the past due to political intervention. Giving instance, they said, former Punjab Inspector General for Prisons Mian Farooq Nazir and Kokab Nadeem Warraich had become the IG in just 14 years while the ASJs were not promoted even after 20 years of service. Interestingly, both were not the CSP officers, the letter reveals. "Likewise, Malik Mubashir Ahmed Khan, Naveed Rauf, Kamran Anjum, Malik Shoukat Feroz, Abdul Rauf Rana and Mian Salik Jalal were also promoted to the rank of DIG in a span of 10 years," the letter regrets, pointing out that they were also not the CSP officers. "Whenever we tried to take up our case with the higher authorities, they simply ignored us by referring to promotions of over 10 persons of a batch recruited in 2005 which is contrary to the facts. Now, the ASJs recruited in 2007 and 2009 are not expecting their promotions before 2036. Like the secretariat employees, we should be given utility, grocery, risk and special allowances. The Prison department should devise an effective policy regarding the purchase of official uniforms besides signing of agreements with private schools for better education of their children," they further demanded.