Provincial bureaucracy: 31 of 36 DCOs are junior officers

Only four officers meet criteria outlined in local government ordinance.

LAHORE: Thirty-one of the district coordination officers in Punjab’s 36 districts are junior officers appointed in apparent violation of Section 28 of the Punjab Local Government Ordinance of 2001, The Express Tribune has learnt.

According to Section 28, “in every district, the government shall appoint a DCO who shall be a civil servant of the federation or of the province, in as far as possible in BS-20. Provided that in a city district government, the DCO may be a civil servant in BS-21.”

Only four DCOs posted in the Punjab are of the required grade (BS-20): Nawazish Ali (Provincial Civil Services) in Gujrat, Qazi Muhammad Ashfaq (PCS) in Khanewal, Muhammad Khan Khichi (District Management Group) in Sahiwal and Tahir Khurshid (DMG) in Muzaffargarh.

Of the junior officers, 20 are with the DMG and 11 with the PCS. One DCO post is vacant. Seven BS-21 officers and six BS-20 officers are currently designated as Officers on Special Duty (OSDs) with the Services and General Administration Department (S&GAD).

The current government carried out a major reshuffle in the senior civil service when it came to power. Many officers were sent to the federal government for further posting, giving junior DMG and PCS officers – particularly the ones with links to the rulers   a chance to take senior positions. Posting junior officers to high offices also gives political leaders a stronger grip over those offices.

Four officers in BS-18 serve as DCOs, including Mujahid Sherdil (DMG), son of Sharif favourite AZK Sherdil, in Sialkot; Muhammad Jehanzeb (DMG) in Kasur; Muhammad Shahid Niaz (PCS) in Jhang; and Irshad Ahmad (PCS) in Chiniot.

Fifteen DMG officers in BS-19 on acting charge are working as DCOs in various districts. They are acting BS-19 officers because they haven’t completed the required number of years for promotion to that grade, or haven’t finished their Mid Career Management Course. They are due for formal elevation to grade 19 in 2012 and 2013.

Lahore DCO Ahad Cheema, who belongs to the 27th Common batch, is in BS-19 on an acting charge and his promotion is due in 2013. He heads a civil bureaucracy that includes four senior DMG officers.

Gujranwala DCO Nabeel Awan is also in BS-19 on an acting charge, because he did not attend the Mid Career Management Course. Rawalpindi DCO Imdadullah Bosal (DMG), Multan DCO Khurram Agha (DMG) and Faisalabad DCO Nasim Sadiq (PCS) are all in BS-19.

Senior officers said that the junior officers did not have the experience and expertise necessary to resolve district-level problems and outline new policies in the public interest. They said expertise came with length of service and the junior officers had been in active service for less than 10 years.

An S&GAD official said the government had recently decided to phase out junior officers from key districts and replace them with senior officers. The first to go would be the DCOs of Lahore and Kasur. He said Chief Secretary Nasir Mehmood Khosa had convinced the chief minister to adopt this strategy at a meeting last week.

S&GAD secretary Sultan Raja was not available for comment.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 22^nd, 2011.