President Alvi reprimands NHA for denying employment to deceased employee's widow

• Terming NHA's stance "ill-founded", president says authority overlooked important matter.
• President upheld order of Wafaqi Mohtasib, directs NHA to ensure compliance within 30 days.
• Widow had applied for appointment with supporting documents required by NHA, but was denied employment.

ISLAMABAD: President Dr Arif Alvi Sunday directed the National Highway Authority (NHA) to appoint the widow of a deceased employee under the Prime Minister’s Assistance Package without further loss of time and to report compliance to the Wafaqi Mohtasib within 30 days.

According to a notification issued by the President's Secretariat, the president expressed displeasure over the matter, noting that the widow had five minor children to support and had been denied her right to employment on "flimsy grounds" that she had applied for the job after the stipulated time of one year after her husband’s death.

"The president gave these orders while rejecting a representation of NHA against the orders of the Wafaqi Mohtasib directing NHA to grant employment to Mst. Ishrat Bibi (the complainant) whose husband was a driver in NHA and had died during service," the statement read.

President Alvi observed that even though the widow had applied after a passage of more than two years and eight months after her husband's death, she had produced an Office Memorandum (OM) of the Establishment Division during the hearing which took care of this aspect.

The president further noted that NHA appeared to have "overlooked this important fact" and termed the stance of NHA on her employment as "ill-founded" and directed it to process her appointment.

The widow had applied for her appointment with supporting documents required by NHA, but she was denied employment. Feeling aggrieved, she approached the Wafaqi Mohtasib who passed the orders for her employment. NHA, however, instead of implementing the decision filed a representation with the president.

The president upheld the order of Wafaqi Mohtasib and directed NHA to make compliance within 30 days.