Shortfall of senior grade officers hampers governance

KARACHI:

The Sindh cabinet has decided to declare 58 positions of BS-grade 21 and 20 as floating posts in order to avert the administrative crisis faced by various institutions under the Sindh government.

A cabinet meeting held at the Chief Minister's House on Tuesday was apprised that the provincial government has for the past three years been facing a 50 per cent shortage of BS-21 officers of the Pakistan Administrative Service (PAS), over 75 per cent of BS-20 officers and 80 per cent of grade BS-19 officers.

The cabinet was informed that there were 25 posts of grade BS-21 in Sindh, of them 16 posts belonging to PAS as their share. Currently, only five officers of PAS were working and 11 posts [of grade BS-21] were vacant.

Similarly, out of 142 sanctioned posts of grade BS-20, the PAS has a share of 67 posts but only 19 officers are working, and 48 posts are vacant. Out of 277 posts of grade BS-19 the PAS has a share of 59 posts against which only 25 officers are working, and 34 posts are vacant.

At this, CM Syed Murad Ali Shah said that in order to ensure smooth functioning of government institutions filling up of at least important positions was sine qua non for effective and efficient service delivery system.

The heavy shortfall of 140 PAS officers has happened because the federal government is reluctant to transfer them to Sindh against their share, the meeting was told.

The cabinet, keeping in view the acute shortage of officers, decided to declare 11 posts of BS-21 including those of the planning and development Board chairperson, inspection and enquiries team chairperson, anti-corruption establishment chairperson and Karachi commissioner, as floating posts in BS-20 and 21.

On declaring such posts in BS-20 and 21, the same can be filled from amongst BS-20 officers of PAS, Ex-PCS and PSS also on the basis of seniority.

Speaking to The Express Tribune, a senior official of the Sindh government said that many departments are without heads and administrative affairs suffer.

"Now the head of board of revenue is retiring. It's a grade 21 post, but there is no senior officer of such grade to take over it. If we appoint a junior officer of grade 20 then courts take action. So, the cabinet has declared 58 position of grade 21 and 20 as floating post, which means the officers of both grade can head each other departments," the official said.

Water shortage

Meanwhile, Sindh Irrigation Minister Jam Khan Shoro apprised the cabinet that the Indus River System Authority (IRSA) has allowed the transfer of water from Indus System to Jhelum-Chenab System through C-J and T-P Link Canals. As a result, he said, not only the standing crops were turning pale but the fear of shortage of drinking water has emerged.

The cabinet urged the IRSA to stop flowing water into Jhelum-Chenab system and release water to Sindh.

Preventing child marriages

Women Development Department Minister Shehla Raza requested the cabinet to approve merger of Sindh Child Marriage Restraint Act, 2013 and its Rules 2016 with Child Protection Authority Act 2011 and amendment in the Bill 2021 of social welfare department.

The minister said that the Child Marriage Restraint Act was initiated by the women development department, but the department deals with females of age 18 years and above and have proper residential places in shape of Dar-ul-Aman. Girls under the age of 18 cannot be accommodated with elder ladies in Darul Aman, she said.

Load shedding

During the meeting Sindh Energy Minister Imtiaz Shaikh took up the issue of prolonged load shedding in the rural areas of the province.

He said that the old transformers installed in the rural areas usually burnt, and their repair took four to five weeks, as a result poor people suffer a lot.

The cabinet urged power distribution companies to overhaul their system and install new transformers in their system, particularly in rural areas.

Moreover, the cabinet was told that the Provincial Benevolent Fund Board (PBFB) was the custodian of benevolent fund and catered to the claims of subsistence allowance across provinces. The allowance is offered to widows of the deceased government servants.

The chief secretary pointed out that the rules (Rule 10 of part-I and Rule 9 of Party-II) PBFB were silent on widower being the beneficiary.

Therefore, the cabinet approved the amendment in the rule and now it would be read as "Such grant shall be subject to the condition that the `widow' or widower, shall, each month furnish to the Board a certificate in the form. On remarriage the grant shall cease forthwith."

Published in The Express Tribune, August 25^th, 2021.