The International Monetary Fund has inquired about the accountability mechanism of civil servants having discrepancies in their asset declarations, as the overwhelming majority of the government employees still remains exempted from public declaration of assets.
The global lender also sought to implement a risk-based verification of the information disclosed by the civil servants and possible penalties and investigation of those officers whose assets exceed their declared sources of income, according to the government sources.
However, due to a very narrow definition of a "civil-servant", it is estimated that hardly 25,000 civil servants' assets can be disclosed even after an amendment in the Civil Servants Act as part of the IMF condition for the $7 billion package, the government sources added.
The officers of the autonomous bodies, regulatory bodies like the State Bank of Pakistan, the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority, the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority and the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority and the provincial civil services will still remain exempted from digitally filling the returns and their subsequent public disclosure.
Majority of the financial decisions are taken by the government employees working in these organizations, which is also reflected in the numbers and the value of the audit objections printed by the Auditor General of Pakistan.
The visiting IMF delegation met with the Establishment Division and discussed the issues related to promotion, posting and the accountability of the civil servants serving in the basic scale of 17 to 22, according to the government sources. The delegation's emphasis was beyond just the disclosure of the information and taking concert action against the corrupt officers, said the sources.
The meeting was held the day the federal cabinet approved amendments in the Civil Servants Act of 1973.
New Amendment
A new clause 15-A Declaration of Assets in the old law has been introduced aimed at enabling the declaration of the assets of the civil servants. The government has also relaxed the Right to Access to the Information Act of 2017 to enable the public disclosure of this information.
The new clause, approved by the cabinet, states that "notwithstanding anything contained in clause g of section 7 of the Right of Access to Information Act 2017, the declaration of assets of a civil servant of BS-17 and above, his spouse and dependent children, including domestic and foreign assets and liabilities, as may be prescribed, filed with the Federal Board of Revenue and same shall be publicly available, through FBR, in accordance with the rules as may be prescribed.
However, a limited exemption has been provided from the public disclosure and the new amendment states that "the extent of disclosure shall give due regard to the balance between public interest for good governance and individual's privacy and security".
The amendment is part of the 40 conditions that Pakistan has agreed with the IMF in return for the $7 billion loan deal.
The IMF Mission on Governance and Corruption Diagnosis Assessment is in the town and met with the Establishment Division to discuss measures to curb the menace of corruption in the bureaucracy. The IMF was told that after the cabinet's approval the new amendment will soon be tabled in the National Assembly for the approval.
The sources said that the IMF suggested implementing a risk-based verification system to see whether the bureaucrats have truthfully declared their assets. The IMF was told that after the approval of the new amendment, the authorities will also amend the Government Servants Conduct Rules of 1964 to lay out a mechanism for the accountability of the corrupt bureaucrats.
During its interaction, the IMF delegation asked whether any penalties are slapped on the civil servants and whether those penalties are also notified.
Limited Scope
However, the scope of the new amendment is limited and the overwhelming majority of the officers will still be exempted from the public disclosure.
The new amendment will be applicable only to the civil servants, defined in the Civil Servants Act of 1973.
The law states that the "civil servant means a person who is a member of an All-Pakistan Service or of a civil service of the Federation or who holds a civil post in connection with the affairs of the Federation, including any such post connected with defense. But it does not include a person who is on deputation to the federation from any province or other authority and a person who is employed on contract, or on work-charged basis or who is paid from contingencies.
Effectively, only the officers of 12 occupational groups and the attached departments will be covered under this definition, said an official of the Establishment Division. The official said that a total of 25,000 officers will fall in this category, which includes about 19,000 officers of the attached departments.
Minister for Establishment Ahad Khan Cheema confirmed to The Express Tribune that the new amendment is "only related to employees covered under the Civil Servants Act of 1973".
Dr Ishrat Husain, the former advisor on Institutional Reforms, once wrote that the Supreme Court of Pakistan has held that a person being in Service of Pakistan, merely for that reason, cannot be classed as a "Civil Servant" as defined in Civil Servants Act. 1973. Therefore every person in the "Service of Pakistan" cannot automatically become a civil servant.
He further wrote that a nine-judge bench of the Supreme Court has determined that employees belonging to autonomous corporations and bodies under the federal government will not attract the definition of civil servants.
Pakistan's public sector employs over 3.4 million at the federal and provincial level, from grade 1 to 22. The autonomous organizations have 389,923 employees and there are 1.8 million employees of the provincial governments.
Pakistan ungovernable
The IMF delegation also received inputs of independent experts on weakening governance and increasing corruption in Pakistan, said the sources. The IMF was apprised by the experts that the country had become ungovernable due to the large size of provinces having population larger than the total size of many countries in the world.
One of the participants recommended creating more provinces and one of the options could be converting the existing 31 divisions into 31 provinces, said the sources. The experts were of the view that due to large sizes of the provinces, it has become impossible to provide quality services and ensure good governance.
More provinces would also solve the issue of the provincialization of everything from government jobs to share in the federal taxes, they told the IMF. One of the experts shared with the IMF that Pakistan's population was exaggerated due to distribution of everything on the basis of the population among the federating units.
The independent experts also highlighted the overstaffing in the Federal Board of Revenue and prevailing corruption in the organization. It was also discussed in the IMF's meeting with the experts that the judiciary and the bureaucracy have weakened over a period of time, according to the sources.
COMMENTS
Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.
For more information, please see our Comments FAQ