The operations at the country's biggest laboratory of Pakistan Standards and Quality Control Authority (PSQCA) has virtually suspended since nearly 35 percent of its employees have been sent home with no substitutes. Well-informed sources told Business Recorder, Thursday that around 35 employees from BPS-1 to 18 (mainly technical) working at the main PSQCA Complex in Gulistan-e-Jauhar have been dismissed from their jobs with immediate effect.
Almost the entire lab work has been halted because most of the employees working there are untrained and now state of the art machines are left idle. It is also relevant to add that the authority much had been invested for the capacity-building and technical training of the sacked employees.
The authority has cited completion and closure of the Rs1.20 billion project 'Purchase of lab equipments/provision of furniture and fixture for PSQCA Laboratory Complex' a reason behind en bloc termination of jobs of 35 employees. The project had begun back in 2010 and funded by the federal government. By July 2018, funds had been stopped and the PSQCA had to manage the laboratory's affairs, including the staff salaries from its own resources.
On November 30, 2018, the PSQCA issued a circular informing the concerned employees that the said project would be completed and closed on December 31, 2018 and then there would be no funds for it.
Hence, the authority had informed all those project employees whose services were hired purely on temporary basis that life of the project was being completed and after its expiry their services would not be required beyond the mentioned date.
The project director exercised his powers conferred in accordance with clause a and b: sub clause II and III, stating that the respective offers of appointment and the provisions laid down in the project Original PC-1 and revised PC-1 and other subsequent correspondence received from time to time were to expire terminating their jobs effective from December 31, 2018. The PD also stated that the circular be treated as the one-month notice in advance, in this regard, however, it also allowed that any dues if applicable can be claimed prior to the completion of the project date to timely settlement of the claim.
The sources said that the PSQCA is the only standard body that generates finance on its own and operate under the Ministry of Science and Technology (MoST) and it doesn't take even a single penny from the federal government. They argued that despite huge corruption, PSQCA's annual revenue stands at millions of rupees. They said Rs 950 million were PSQCA's total revenue in FY-2017.
The sacked employees are of the view their jobs should have been regularized in the larger interest of the authority itself. Termination of employees is also seen as negligence and incompetence of the incumbent management.
The Director General has been urged to take stern action against corrupt officials who are facing series of NAB and FIA inquiries regarding their alleged involvement in illegal appointments, misuse of powers and malpractices.
There are complaints that some officials who have been in PSQCA on deputation still hold key positions flouting the Supreme Court orders.
The sacked employees had formed an action committee. They have approached the government and opposition parties' leaders to seek reinstatement on jobs but to no avail.
When Business Recorder approached the PSQCA authorities for official stance regarding the issue, its spokesman confirmed the termination of 35 employees' jobs. However, he rebuffed the assertions that laboratories' working was suspended. He said that laboratories are working properly since the regular staff/officers replaced the contractual staff hired for temporary period.