Citizen’s Portal leaves much to be desired

The Pakistan Citizen’s Portal, launched by the government in 2018, is proving to be ineffective in resolving the concerns of the common man given that a huge number of queries are closed without giving any relief to the complainant.

Inam Jamil Anjum, a retired employee of a state-owned bank in Pakistan, also knocked at the door of Prime Minister Imran Khan through his complaint portal.

The management of his former workplace, however, told the PM’s Office that the issue had been resolved and that Anjum’s complaint did not have merit. He is not alone. Ghulam Ahmad is also seeking justice for his expatriate son, who bought a piece of land in the National Police Foundation (NPF). Just like Anjum, Ahmad too lodged a complaint on the PM’s portal and he is now shuttling between NPF and the Capital Development Authority.

The NPF allotted Ahmad’s son a plot on green belt and despite admitting the fact that he has been robbed, no department could help him get justice, including the PM’s Office. Anjum claims that he was “unjustifiably denied promotion as vice president in 2012” and he retired without getting his due right, which also affected his retirement benefits, including pension.

He left the bank in August 2017 after attaining the superannuation age and since then he is attempting to “get justice”. In May last year, he took to the PM’s portal and complained that two employees in his bank were promoted to the positions of vice president despite scoring fewer grades than him. Anjum demanded equal treatment.

Last month, Prime Minister Imran Khan took notice of the unaddressed complaints lodged on the Pakistan Citizen’s Portal (PCP) in 2021 and directed the officials concerned to review the backlog.

According to a letter from the Prime Minister’s Office, a total of 1.5 million complaints were received on the portal in 2021 and out of them, a set of 238,098 complaints were earmarked for reopening on the basis of negative public feedback. These complaints were closed as “relief granted” but the citizens denied receiving any relief. PM’s Office said that it needed to be ascertained how relief was denied or whether it was granted in the first place or not.

A new draft audit report of Anjum’s former workplace, which the Auditor General of Pakistan (AGP) prepared, also revealed that in 2016 the then management allegedly promoted 75 officers and executives in violation of the promotion policy by exercising special powers. Of these, nearly one dozen people whose marks were below Anjum’s were promoted in 2016. Their obtained marks were as low as 17 in at least one case, according to the draft report.

During the audit for the years 2012-2020, it was observed that the management promoted 75 employees in officers and executive grades in violation of the promotion policy during 2016. The promotions were awarded to the officers and executives ranging from OG-III to senior vice presidents.

In 2016, the management promoted the officers and executives under special powers of the bank president despite the fact that their names were at the bottom of the merit list.

The promotions were made through the ignorance of merit.

AGP findings denied

In its reply to the AGP, the management of the bank stated that its board of directors approved the proposal to promote deserving employees under special circumstances in 2016. It stated that a number of deserving candidates in officer and executive grades could not qualify for promotion due to the interview criteria or appraisal-related score caused by limitations in the bell curve mode of performance management, though they were excellent performers within their groups.

The management stated that all promotions were made as per the board of directors’ approved policies. It stated that none of the 75 employees were ineligible as all of them fulfilled the minimum eligibility criteria stipulated in the said promotion policies.

Moreover, the relevant group chiefs were well aware of their service particulars and all such promotions were based on the recommendations of the relevant group chiefs, as per approval of the board.

However, the auditors did not accept the management’s reply, according to the draft report.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 23^rd, 2022.

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