Blue-eyed boys: Punjab govt grants undue favours to bureaucrats

LAHORE: The Punjab government has retained services of several civil officers despite the federal government’s rotation and interprovincial transfer policy for bureaucrats. Consequently, the number of posts for additional chief secretaries of the province has been increased to seven.

During the tenure of Pakistan Muslim League – Nawaz (PML-N) leader Shahbaz Sharif the number of posts for additional chief secretaries was five.

Sources in the bureaucracy revealed that the retention of favourite civil officers in Punjab has only resulted in the formation of a ‘quack force’ of additional chief secretaries.

At the present, seven top bureaucrats are working in the province as BPS-21 officer Shaukat Ali holds the position of Punjab additional chief secretary, grade-21 officer Momin Agha is serving as additional chief secretary for the home department, grade-22 officer Muhammad Illyas is working as additional chief secretary for services, Erum Bukhari is serving as additional chief secretary for energy and Arif Anwar Baloch is working as additional chief secretary for rural economy.

Bureaucrat likely to be appointed CEC

Sources told The Express Tribune that the bureaucracy has appointed additional chief secretaries to accommodate officers so that senior officers can also be appointed and administrative affairs can be handled better. On the other hand, the establishment division maintains that this is not the first time that promoted officers were appointed by the federal government as per the requirement of Punjab.

In the current year, two officers Ejaz Hussain Shah of Police Service of Pakistan (PSP) and Hussain Asghar of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) were promoted to grade-22 and their services were retained in Punjab.

Similarly, the Chief Secretary of Punjab Major (retd) Azam Sulaiman Khan was taken on board after Secretary Services Jan Muhammad Illyas was promoted to grade-22.

It is worth noting that during the Musharraf era, there were three posts for additional chief secretaries, whereas during Shahbaz Sharif’s tenure, these posts were increased to five.

The number of grade-22 officers in Punjab is currently four, which includes Chief Secretary Major (retd) Azam Sulaiman Khan, Inspector General of Police Shoaib Dastagir, Additional Chief Secretary Services Muhammad Illyas and Senior Member Board of Revenue Babar Hayat Tarar. In the past, only the inspector general and chief secretary were grade-22 officers in Punjab.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 20^th, 2019.