PM links promotions to addressing public complaints

Prime Minister Imran Khan on Friday ordered to link the performance report of government officials with their efficiency to address public grievances and issued directions to the Establishment Division to work out new modalities for performance evaluation.

The prime minister suggested evaluating the performance of government officials in their annual confidential reports (ACRs) by adding points based on their efforts to redress public grievances.

A statement by the Prime Minister Delivery Unit (PMDU) said that addressing the problems of the people was the prime responsibility of any government official.

As per the vision of PM Imran, the statement read, “An effective and prompt resolution of grievances of the public up to their satisfaction was the best method to evaluate the performance of a government official.”

Public Procurement Regulatory Authority (PPRA) Managing Director Rizwan Malik said, “I feel it’s a good move; it will make public servants more responsive, efficient and bring greater transparency in the bureaucracy.”

The PPRA MD said, “Public servants are obliged to serve public; distance between them should be removed and public servants should be made more responsive. Keeping a distance from public is an outdated thing and ‘Babu Culture’ should now be eradicated.”

Malik was of the view that bureaucracy should be evolved to meet new challenges as non-cooperation would only bring bad name to it. “I believe this is the right step in making the bureaucracy more responsible,” Malik said, adding that civil servants needed to be more accessible and proactive.

“Directionally, it’s a very good move as it would increase accountability in the bureaucracy,” Hasaan Khawar, a public policy expert, said. “Civil service has to be made more accessible to the public,” he said, adding that it should also be ensured that the system is not open to abuse as those who know the system can manipulate it in their favour or against some honest officer.

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While emphasising that the government should take some practical steps to improve performance of civil servants, Khawar suggested that instead of linking civil servants’ promotions directly with addressing public complaints in the first stage, the government should first gather the data, make it public and see public reaction.

In the next stage, he added, the government should order inquiries against the officers failing to effectively redress public grievances instead of considering their cases for promotions.

However, another bureaucrat, requesting anonymity, expressed that the decision would have little or no impact on the federal ministries as they do not directly deal with public.

The bureaucrat said that people mostly face problems in departments like police, WAPDA, SNGPL and the focus should be on addressing those issues.

Expressing that the Establishment Division only deals with the federal departments, he questioned how the government would apply this rule on provincial or autonomous bodies that have their own independent legal status and rules for promotions.

“There is a dire need to have monetary evaluation system as there is no system for performance monitoring,” he said. “Adding another column in ACRs would just be a useless exercise in the absence of an effective performance monitory system.”

Earlier, in December 2019, the government had revised criterion for civil servants’ promotion as it increased discretionary powers of the Central Selection Board (CSB) for the promotion of senior civil servants to higher grades.

On December 3, it was reported that the Establishment Division had notified in the official gazette the Civil Servants Promotion (BPS-18 to BPS-21) Rules, 2019. According to the new rules, the CSB, which earlier had 15 out of total 100 marks, has now got 30 marks to its discretion. In addition to the CSB’s 30 marks, 40 are reserved for ACRs and remaining 30 for professional courses.

Previously, there were 50 marks for ACRs, 35 for professional courses and 15 for CSB. The new rules set the minimum threshold of 60 marks for promotion in BS-18, 65 for BS-19, 70 for BS-20 and 75 for BS-21.