CSB meeting minutes forwarded to PM

PM’s approval expected in a few weeks


Our Correspondent July 28, 2017
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. PHOTO: REUTERS / FILE

ISLAMABAD: After a delay of more than a month, the Establishment Division has finally forwarded to the Prime Minister the minutes and summary of Central Selection Board (CSB) meeting held on June 19 to consider promotion of senior civil servants, it is learnt.

Special Secretary ED Hayauddin – who was given the additional charge as acting secretary till the appointment of a permanent secretary – signed the summary and minutes and forwarded them to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.

The minutes and summary remained withheld due to untimely exit of Secretary Establishment Division.

According to officials, the ED had been dealing with the promotions issue very carefully since the CSB meeting on June 19. The minutes were gone through very thoroughly, and the officials examined documents of each and every member, including self-evaluation reports and security details.

Top bureaucrats still await promotions

A senior officer confided to this correspondent that they were extremely cautious lest any sloppy decisions should land them in litigation again.

According to sources, a senior bureaucrat of Grade 20 got wind of the minutes that he was not being promoted and filed a petition in the Supreme Court against the CSB. The court told the officer to wait for the minutes to be disclosed and then the case would proceed.

The CSB meeting was held to reconsider the promotion of more than 1,100 civil servants. As per the Standard Operating Procedures, the PM is the final authority to decide the fate of bureaucrats recommended by the CSB.

The PM will scrutinise all the names in the light of additional details from security agencies as he holds the prerogative to defer and supersede any name. The PM is likely to approve the promotions within next few weeks.

On April 13, the Supreme Court had given 10 weeks to the ED to devise a new policy for promotions. The ED had held the board meeting on June 19 before the June 22 cut-off time.

While the court did not altogether de-notify the promotions of officers of CSB 2015, it directed the ED to re-examine the promotions of all the officers made in 2015.

Fate of 1,164 civil servants: CSB to reconsider promotions today

In the CSB 2015, about 466 bureaucrats had been considered for promotions from Grade 20 to Grade 21 and 698 from Grade 19 to Grade 20. Of them, about 479 officers were promoted in the Pakistan Administrative Service, the Secretariat Group, and the Police Service of Pakistan, including those of other occupational groups and ex-cadre.

Besides, promotions of 433 officers were deferred and those of 41 others superseded with strong note from the PM.

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