Govt raises pay of top cadre contractual employees

Basic salary of MP-I, MP-II and MP-III officers increased by 10%

ISLAMABAD: The federal government has increased the basic pay of employees serving on contractual basis at top management positions, as it struggles to attract the best talent in the public sector due to unattractive salary packages.

The pay packages of Management Position I (MP-I), MP-II and MP-III have been increased with effect from December 1, 2016 by 10%, according to a notification issued by the finance ministry. The government has increased the salaries of MP scale contractual employees after a gap of three years.



Only basic pay has been increased. The government did not increase house rent and utilities allowances. This has effectively reduced the increase by up to 7%, depending upon the MP scale.

The MP-I is equivalent to grade-22 of the civil service, which is the highest grade in the civil bureaucracy. Administratively, however, a grade-22 officer is far more powerful than an MP-I employee hired from the private sector for a fixed tenure.

The government also increased the salaries of the management scales employees by 23% but withdrew their three ad-hoc relief allowances for the period of 2013, 2014 and 2015.

The government increased the maximum pay package of MP-I officers from Rs482,200 per month to Rs513,500. The net increase for the MP-I scale will be Rs31,300 or 6.5%. In addition to this, the MP-I officer will keep getting Rs95,910 monthly car monetisation allowance.

The maximum salary package of the MP-II scale, which is equivalent to grade 21, has been increased from Rs294,800 to Rs312,400. The net increase in monthly package will be Rs17,600 or 6%. He will be entitled to Rs77,430 car monetisation allowance in addition to his salary package.

Similarly, the maximum pay package of MP-III, which is equivalent to grade-20 officer, has been increased from Rs159,500 to Rs170,500. The net increase in monthly salary of MP-III employee is Rs11,000 or 6.9%. He will be also entitled to Rs65,060 monthly car allowance.



The government has been facing challenges in attracting the best talent against top management positions due to relatively unattractive salary packages. Compared to over half a million rupees monthly pay package that the government is now offering to an MP-I official, potential candidates for such a position are earning over a million rupees a month in the private sector.

The other issue is the treatment of these people in the public sector, as they do not earn respect and often face resistance from government servants. The political leadership too does not treat them well and their contracts are not timely extended, if and when required.

Recently, a similar situation arose in the Ministry of Planning and Development when the authorities kept half a dozen MP-I officials waiting for months while deciding the fate of their jobs. These MP-I officials were serving as Members of the Planning Commission.

The MP-I scale that had been introduced for professionals is now fully exploited by bureaucrats, mainly from the District Management Group, now renamed as Pakistan Administrative Service.  During the Pakistan Peoples Party’s tenure, some of the retired bureaucrats were hired on lucrative MP-I scales.

In Pakistan Bureau of Statistics, retired government servants occupy the technical positions. Many ministries have also been hiring retired bureaucrats on MP-I scale by bypassing the Federal Public Service Commission (FPSC), which is a violation of the law.

Early this year, the government shelved a proposal of establishing a new national executive service (NES) following opposition by all-powerful bureaucracy group – the Pakistan Administrative Service. It wanted to establish the NES at grade-20 to grade-22 in order to induct talented people against posts critical in decision-making.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 15^th, 2016.