PESHAWAR: Around 950 employees of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government are facing termination of employment for paying the ill-gotten money to the National Accountability Bureau under the voluntary returns scheme and thus, getting off scotfree.

Officials in the know told Dawn the provincial establishment department had secured a list of 943 such employees of different grades and cadres in line with the Supreme Court`s Oct 24 orders for punitive action against them.

Of these employees, more than half belong to the revenue and estate department.

The officials said the apex court had directed the establishment division secretary and all provincial chief secretaries to ensure the immediate start of departmental proceedings against the employees, who had voluntarily returned the dirty money under Section 25(a) of the National Accountability Ordinance 1999.

A senior revenue official told Dawn that the list sent to the establishment department had the names of 555 officials of the department.

He said the list provided to the department contained the officials` names and departments only.

`We have moved a note to the chief secretary`s offices asking them to pro-vide more details about the named employees,` he said.

The official said the list provided to them had only written patwari in front of most names and that it lacked other details, especially the places of their current posting.

He said it was a high likelihood that there were more than one official with the same name in the province.

An establishment department official said the chief secretary would take action in cases involving officials up to the grade of BPS-17 and below, whiles proceedings against those in BPS-18 and above would be decided by the chief minister.

He said in light of the apex court`s decision, the relevant departments had been asked to initial disciplinary proceedings against the officials, who had availed themselves of the voluntary return facility of the NAB.

The official said availing themselves of the voluntary return facility itself proved wrongdoing on part of the officials and therefore, they had been given show cause notices instead of inquiry under the Efficiency and Disciplinary Rules.

Earlier, the Peshawar High Court turned down several petitions submitted by around 35 government officials challenging the issuance of show cause notices to them under the E&D Rules.

Another official told Dawn that most of the departments had issued notices to the government employees named in the NAB documents for benefiting from the voluntary return arrangements.

He said the officials had been told why they shouldn`t be dismissed from the service in line with the Supreme Court orders for availing themselves of the scheme.The official however said the named officials had also been asked if they wanted to make themselves available for personal hearing in those cases.

`The personal hearing is likely to be conducted by the provincial establishment secretary. A representative of the NAB will also be present in it,` he said.

The official said in some cases, officials complained they were forced by the NAB to make voluntary return agreements in cases like slow-moving projects, wherein the matter concerned actually fell in the category of the procedurallapses.

On the other hand, the establishment division has also issued notices to the employees of the federal government under the Government Servants (E&D) Rules, 1973, for explanation on voluntary return deals with the NAB.

Documents available with Dawn show the secretary has ordered formal disciplinary proceedings against Dr.

Mazharul Haq Kakakhel of the police group (BPS-20), former Mardan range police DIG, and Nisar Ahmed Khan of the police group (BPS-19), former DPO Nowshera, who have voluntary returned looted money under Section 25(a) of the NAO 1999.

They also show the proceedings should be conducted under the Government Servants (E&D) Rules 1973 and that records of proceedings be forwarded to the establishment division as early as possible.

Also, the provincial chief secretary has been asked to depute a departmental representative well-conversant with the facts of the cases to assist the inquiry and furnish the relevant case material or documents to the inquiry officer.