Over 1,000 govt officers promoted in 2016

Record number of PSB meetings held in current year

PESHAWAR: The Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Establishment Department has shown a keen interest in holding more Provincial Selection Board (PSB) meetings since the onset of 2016.

Documents collected from the establishment department showed that 1,067 provincial officers of various grades were promoted from January 1 till August. “A record figure of PSB meetings was held in 2016, while the number of promoted officers remains unprecedented,” an official of the establishment department said. He requested anonymity as he was not authorised to speak on the matter.

It includes 59 officers who were promoted to BS-17, while there were a whopping 595 promotions from BS-17 to BS-18. In addition, 347 officers of BS-18 were recommended for promotion to BS-19. Similarly, 61 officers were promoted from BS-19 to BS-20 and only five officers to BS-21.

A large portion of the promoted officers include those of the education, health and establishment departments. A total 664 promotions were recommended in the education sector.

In the health department, the promotion of 139 officers was recommended, while 164 employees of the establishment department were promoted to higher grades. The department promoted 32 officers from the industries and technical education sector, while 31 promotions were recommended in the agriculture and livestock department.

The department upped the pace of promotions after agitation by officers of the Provincial Management Services/Provincial Civil Services. However, an official of the establishment department said these promotions were merely a coincidence as the secretary preferred to hold regular meetings.

“The establishment secretary is holding meetings very regularly and that is the reason more officers have been promoted in 2016,” said the official, requesting anonymity.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 10^th, 2016.