PESHAWAR, Jan 29 (APP):The Appellate Authority, the Chief Minister Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has accepted the representation of 110 employees working in the Small Industries Development Board (SIDB) and directed the Secretary Industries Department and the Managing Director (MD) to submit the case of regularization of the employees of the project titled ‘The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Women’s Skill & Entrepreneurship Development Programme and the Readymade Garments’ to the Establishment Department for further processing at their end within thirty (30) days of the order under intimation tot he Chief Minister’s Secretariat.
These directives have been issued in response to the representation made by Mr Tahir Shah and 109 other employees working in the SIDB under the concerned programme in various districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa under section 31 of the Provincial Ombudsman Act, 2010 against the findings/recommendations of the Provincial Ombudsman.
The appellant had had claimed that they have time and again requested the authorities concerned at SIDB for inclusion of their project; which they claimed was of perpetual nature, and could have been included in the Regularization Act 2018, but in vain. The said project was closed on June 30, 2021.
For the redressal of their grievance, the appellant requested the Provincial Ombudsman Khyber Pakhtunkhwa through a complaint instituted on January 9, 2024 to issue directions to the SIDB for forwarding the case of regularization of their service to the Establishment Department for consideration in the same way as employees of other perpetual nature projects which were regularized in the year 2018. However, their plea was rejected by the Provincial Ombudsman, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on July 9, 2024.
The aggrieved employees with the findings/recommendations of the Provincial Ombudsman, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the appellants filed a representation u/s 31 of the Provincial Ombudsman Act, 2010.
After amendments in the Provincial Ombudsman Act, 2010 and upon changing of the Appellate Authority from the Governor to the Chief Minister, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the appellants were granted an opportunity of personal hearing while the representative of the Agency was also present during the proceedings.
The arguments of the appellants and representative of the Agency were heard at length and the record was also accordingly perused.
In light of the arguments of the appellants and representatives of the Agency, the Appellate Authority transpired that the project titled ‘the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Women’s Skill & Entrepreneurship Development Programme and the Readymade Garments’ was initiated by the SIDB in the year 2002.
Accordingly, twenty-four (24) number of Dastkari Centres were established across Khyber Pakhtunkhwa for granting trainings to women in the trade of sewing, embroidery and knitting under the said project.
The appellant authority has found that the continuity of such project indicates its perpetual nature, therefore, it would be appropriate if the same is assessed by the Committee constituted in the Establishment Department Govt of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa for the purpose of regularization of the employees of perpetual nature projects under the Regularization Act in the Year 2018.
