Pakistan

Govt reduces cadre strength by 35%

Changes made under civil service reforms

Our Correspondent March 16, 2021

A man wearing a protective mask walks through a crowd of people along a makeshift market as the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) continues, in Karachi, Pakistan January 17, 2021. PHOTO: REUTERS/File

ISLAMABAD:

The federal government, under the civil service reforms, has reduced the cadre strength of Pakistan administrative officers in the provinces from 1,725 to 1,121.

According to a notification, the changes were made in the cadre schedule of Pakistan Administrative Service (PAS) keeping in view its unwieldy strength, and bringing it in line with the available officers.

In 1993, post sharing formula was decided between the Federation and the provinces and the percentages therein were applied to full cadre and strength of the provinces.

Their application of percentages to the total number of posts intimated by the provinces took the sanctioned seats of PAS to almost 1,739 in the provinces. However, the actual number of officers available for posting to provinces was not sufficient and there was a persistent shortage of PAS officers.

To overcome the shortages, an exercise was started in 2019 to identify the posts where PAS officers have not been posted historically but such posts were being used for calculation of cadre strength of the PAS.

After identification of such posts, in consultation with provinces, it was decided that these posts should be subtracted for the purpose of application of percentages decided under the 1993 formula.

After deduction of the number of seats where PAS officers were never posted, the post sharing formula was applied on the remaining seats which brought down the cadre strength of posts in provinces to 1,061 from 1,739 in BS-17 to BS-20.

The rationalisation of cadre strength has served two purposes. On the one hand, it will reduce the shortage of PAS officers in provinces, while on the other, it has given the provinces a leverage of 678 posts, deducted from PAS cadre, which can be utilised for promotions of provincial service officers.

Further, in addition to the above 678 seats, the federal government has decided to induct 51 BS-19 officers of Provincial Management Services (PMS) and Provincial Civil Services (PCS) into PAS against the cadre strength of service in the Federal Secretariat.

In summation, almost 729 posts of PAS cadre have been opened for promotions and induction of PMS/PCS officers of all provinces.