Civil servants are no more servants of the public
ISLAMABAD: Gone are the days when sitting governments and their functionaries in high positions listened to the grievances of people and addressed their problems. Civil servants are no more servants of the public. They rather serve their masters to create a system that exploits the common man and rewards the mighty and powerful. I remember of an incident during the course of my service as special assistant to the commissioner of Rawalpindi in the 1960s.
An elderly person with tattered clothes came to see the commissioner and stated that his land had been acquired by the central government through the deputy commissioner (collector) of Rawalpindi for the construction of the Central Government Hospital on Murree Road. Out of the large area acquired, the hospital was built on a small portion and the rest lay vacant. However, the plaintiff was only paid for the land that came under the constructed building and did not receive any compensation for the remaining area. He could not sell it or put it to any other use because of the acquisition. The commissioner called for a report from the hospital authorities, who responded that the vacant land was meant for the extension of the hospital. The commissioner called a meeting with health ministry officials who repeated the argument advanced by the medical superintendent. The commissioner asked the health secretary either to pay compensation or surrender the land. However, the secretary insisted that the land was necessary for extension purposes, but the department did not have funds to pay for it. To this, the commissioner gave the health ministry sufficient time to arrange for funds or he would return the extra land to the owner. The health ministry failed to arrange the funds in the stipulated time and the commissioner lived up to his word. He cancelled the acquisition orders for extra land providing relief to the aggrieved person. Compared with those days, one wonders whether any civil servant today could dare perform his or her duty in such a manner to serve the public and not politicians for personal gains, such as important posts and promotions.
Raja Shafaatullah
Published in The Express Tribune, October 15th, 2016.
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