Amnesty for govt. employees concealing job status extended by two months

Islamabad:      The federal government has extended the cut-off date of the amnesty given to the government employees who obtained passports without revealing their job status. The new deadline will now be 27 September. All passport-issuing authorities have thus been informed via official communication.

Earlier, the date for the amnesty was July 23; however, after much deliberation, the cabinet approved an extension of two months in the cut-off date. The employees have been directed to approach concerned passport offices along with no objection certificates (NOCs) from their departments to get their passports updated and get fresh passports.

Sources reveal that the additional fee with regards to the renewal of passports will fetch Rs400 million if all 84,000 defaulting government servants avail the opportunity. Those who obtained their passports before joining government service do not need to worry. However, to travel abroad, they certainly need new passports mentioning their job status. The additional fee for getting a fresh passport is Rs5,000.

For the employees of state-owned organisations – autonomous and semi-autonomous corporations and companies – whose passport booklets do not carry a print of ‘government service’ too will get an update on their old passports. However, they too have to bear the additional processing fee of Rs5,000.

All those who fail to avail the amnesty will be liable to punishment under Section 6 of the Passport Act, 1974. The said section reads: “A person shall be punishable with imprisonment which may extend to three years, or with fine, or with both, if he: (a) makes use of any statement which he knows or believes to be false in any document for obtaining passport; … or (c) wilfully conceals any fact which under the circumstances he ought to disclose for the purpose of obtaining a passport …”