Select few bureaucrats win a fat allowance

ISLAMABAD:

The government on Tuesday notified a highly discriminatory 150% executive allowance for the bureaucrats serving in the President’s Secretariat, Prime Minister’s Office and federal secretariat, while excluding many other officers also serving under the same roof.

The finance ministry issued the notification for the grant of executive allowance to the officers serving on a basic pay scale of 17 to 22 and working in the federal secretariat, PM’s office and President’s Secretariat. However, classes of officers serving in the same secretariat have been purged from the notification.

The 150% executive allowance has also been given to assistant commissioners, additional deputy commissioners, deputy commissioners and chief commissioner in Islamabad Capital Territory.
The executive allowance is in line with the provincial government's similar allowances and it will be applicable on the running basic pay drawn on June 30th and shall remain frozen at that level, according to the finance ministry.

Discriminatory

However, the notification appears highly discriminatory and is prone to be challenged in courts in addition to questions over its timing, as the country is passing through difficult economic times.

“This allowance will be admissible to all officers posted by the Establishment Division against sanctioned posts of section officers, deputy secretaries, joint secretaries, senior joint secretaries – (another nomenclature showing Pakistan Administrative Services biases) – additional secretaries, additional secretaries in-charge, special secretaries and Secretaries in the federal secretariat (ministries/divisions),

PM’s Office and President’s Secretariat”, according to the notification. The PM’s Office and the President's Secretariat are already entitled to more than double of the standard basic salaries, further topping their already fat pay slips.

The notification’s discrimination can be gauged from the simple fact that the Economic Adviser's Wing (EAW), which is part and parcel of the Finance Ministry and federal secretariat, has been excluded from the benefit. Similarly, the media wing of the finance ministry would not be entitled to the executive allowance. There are two officers serving in the media wing - one in grade 20 and the other in 17 and sitting next to Finance Minister’s Office.

All the officers belonging to the Economist Group who are working in the P Block, which is adjacent to the Q Block where the Finance Ministry is stationed, have been excluded from the executive allowance. But the Secretary Planning - a Pakistan Administrative Service Officer - who is the boss of the Economist Group and sits in the same building as secretary planning will be availing the executive allowance.

Likewise, the commerce ministry is part of the federal secretariat but its officers will not be entitled to this allowance. The audit and accounts group, postal group as well as information group will not be entitled to this allowance.

Headed by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, the federal cabinet on June 10 approved the 150% raise for the federal bureaucracy in line with similar benefits in the Punjab province. However, some had questioned the rationale behind giving the allowance at a time of severe economic crunch.

The notification is in violation of the constitution, as there cannot be discrimination between the two officers performing the same task but getting different treatment, said an officer on condition of anonymity who is serving in the federal secretariat but is not entitled to the executive allowance. He said that the disgruntled employees could challenge the notification in court.

The finance ministry said that those officers who will be able to benefit from the executive allowance will not be entitled to the existing disparity reduction allowance, currently 25% for grade 20 to 22 officers and 40% for grade 17 to 19% civil servants. Effectively, the allowance will be 110% to 125% of the salaries drawn on June 30.

Many government departments have already started demanding similar benefits -the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) is one of those. The FBR had also asked for 100% increases for its grade 1 to 16 employees and 150% executive allowance for grades 17 to 22. But the finance minister is sitting on the summary that has an annual additional financial impact of Rs8.1 billion.

The FBR is of the view that with Rs8 billion in additional spending, it can guarantee to achieve the Rs7.470 trillion annual tax collection target for this fiscal year. The ministry has objected to various performance allowances that the FBR employees are getting and sought their details.

A committee has also been constituted under the chairmanship of the additional secretary regulations of the finance ministry to address any issue arising during the implementation of the executive allowance.

The rationale behind giving the 150% executive allowance was to make the Pak Secretariat attractive for the officers serving in the provincial capitals, according to a senior finance ministry official.

The salaried class, irrespective of his or her income level, has been adversely affected by the double-digit inflation. The inflation rate in June was recorded at 21.3% - the highest level in 14 years. The government faces a severe fiscal crunch and has cut some critical expenditures in the revised budget for the fiscal year 2022-23.

The cost of running the civil government was estimated at Rs553 billion, slightly higher than the June 10 estimate.