Bureaucrats await CSB meeting for promotions

Many officers have retired in Grade 21 while endlessly waiting for their turn

ISLAMABAD:

The much-awaited meeting of the high-powered Central Selection Board (CSB) to deliberate upon cases of hundreds of officers for promotion to grades 20, 21 and 22 has been pending for the last many months, with no announcement of its holding in sight.

Many officers have already retired in Grade 21 while endlessly waiting for promotions and several others are still awaiting it.

Due to continuous delays in the board meetings, Grade-21 officers are working as secretaries in various ministries and divisions.

Sources said that the seemingly indefinite wait for the promotions has fuelled frustration in officers as several key ministries are being run on an ad hoc basis.

The Grade-21 officers in the ministries such as the finance, information and broadcasting, and food security are working as secretaries. Likewise, the Petroleum Division also lacks a permanent secretary.

Earlier, Prime Minister Imran Khan through a tweet had justified the delay in convening the meeting of the CSB. He had tweeted: “Under Chairmanship of PM, a high-powered Board sits to decide promotions of bureaucrats from BPS 21 to 22. This board meeting has been postponed for a couple of months because I am scrutinising the actual performance of these officers on the ground beyond routine performance assessments.”

The CSB in its consecutive meetings will consider the promotion cases of officers in different service cadres, including the Pakistan Administrative Service (PAS), Secretariat Group, Pakistan Audit and Accounts Service, Postal Group, Foreign Service of Pakistan, Pakistan Customs Service, Inland Revenue Service, Information Group, Commerce and Trade Group, Police Service of Pakistan, Railways and Military Land and Cantonment.

Due to a delay in the board meeting, eight officers of PAS and PPS retired in Grade 21 while six more officers of Grade 21 will retire in the next few months.

(With input from APP)