Panel seeks provincial quotas in promotions
The Senate Committee on Devolution on Tuesday instructed the federal government to apply provincial quota on promotions to higher grades after it emerged that there was only one federal secretary from Balochistan out of 38 divisions.
Headed by PPP's Senator Zamir Hussain Ghumro, the committee also gave two-week time to the federal government to either handover half of oil and gas well heads with provinces or to share their profits to implement the Article 172(3) of the Constitution in letter and spirit.
In case the government fails to provide an acceptable mechanism, the committee threatened to take punitive measures against the Petroleum Division officials.
The committee, which is mandated to implement the 18th Constitutional Amendment, took up the issue of lack of implementation of provincial job quotas in breach of Article 38(g) and denying provinces their rights in oil and gas sectors in breach of Article 172(3).
There is only one federal secretary, who has Balochistan domicile, out of 38 serving in as many divisions, the additional secretary establishment informed the committee.
"There is an insurgency going on in Balochistan and we have only one federal secretary from the province out of 38 divisions", remarked Ghumro.
The chair said that the implementation of the 18th Constitutional Amendment is the counter to the insurgency – a statement that was also fully endorsed by Establishment Division Secretary, Nabeel Awan.
But the establishment secretary was of the view that there was no quota against the promotions, to which the committee did not agree. The federal government is predominately run by bureaucrats, having Punjab domicile and small provinces feel deprived, the chair noted.
The committee instructed that there were three modes of appointments which include initial appointment by departments and FPSC, appointment by transfer and appointment by promotion.
The chairman said that under the Article 38(g) the federal government has to maintain shares of provinces in all modes of appointments. "They have to cure this omission immediately and post secretaries from officers of other province," he added.
Balochistan's quota in the federal service was determined at 4.5% in 1973, which was increased to 6% by former prime minister Imran Khan in 2020, according to the Establishment Division's written reply.
But the details submitted by the Establishment Division revealed that from grades 1-16 there were 31,235 employees having Balochistan domicile, which was equal to 5.2% and falling below the quota. Likewise, in officer category grade 17-22, there were only 1,287 officers from Balochistan, hardly 3.5% of the total employment.
"The Establishment Division's position is clear, whether someone likes it or not, and it is that all the provinces should get their shares in service as per the constitutional requirements," said Awan, who is also working as chairman of the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra).
The federal government would soon start a proactive campaign to fill thousands of vacant positions against Balochistan's quota, said Nabeel Awan. But the written reply showed that these positions will be filled against grade 1 to 16 and Balochistan may not get any share against the highest positions, barring promotions on the basis of merit and seniority.
The written reply showed that the Establishment Division has recently submitted a draft summary for approval of the prime minister, which is under process for seeking one-time exemption from the recruitment ban under the austerity measures for filling existing vacant posts in BS 1 to 16 reserved against the Balochistan quota.
But it added that the recruitment under the proposal would remain subject to the applicable rules, qualifications and prescribed merit procedure.
The Article 38(g) of the Constitution requires that provincial shares in federal services, including autonomous bodies and corporations established or under the control of the federal government, be secured and past omissions rectified, Ghumro stressed.
The Establishment Division informed that a special CSS examination in 2023 was approved to fill accumulated unfilled quota vacancies in the eligible provinces, regions and categories and the upper age was relaxed to 35 years.
In June this year, the Establishment Division had informed that 3,384 posts allocated to Balochistan were currently lying vacant.
Oil and Gas sector
The Devolution Committee took exception to the violation of Article 172(3). The committee emphasised that Article 172 envisaged equal participation of the Federation and the provinces in matters relating to natural oil and gas and stressed that board compositions should fully reflect this constitutional principle.
It noted that the federal government was not implementing the Constitution. The Petroleum Division has two options, either hand over half of well-heads to the provinces where these are located or share the declared audited profits with the province, the committee chairman said.
"If our instructions are not implemented, we can move against the officers either under NAB law for misuse of authority, under the Contempt of Parliament Act or to invoke Article 6 for subversion of the Constitution, he added.
The Article 172(3) states that the mineral oil and natural gas within a province or its adjacent territorial waters vest jointly or equally in the province and the federal government, subject to the existing arrangement.
The Petroleum Division took a stance that the Article 172(3) does not expressly specify a mechanism for transferring company shares, profits, assets or management rights.
It added that the joint and equal constitutional vesting is fully recognised, existing Article 161 entitlements regarding well-head federal excise duty net proceeds and royalty collected by the federal government remain unaffected.
The Petroleum Division was also of the view that shareholding, dividend distributions and governance of oil and gas sector companies are regulated by the Companies Act 2017 and SOEs Act 2023, petroleum laws and contracts.
The Petroleum Division recommended referring the matter to the Council of Common Interests (CCI) to seek clarification as to how Article 172(3) operates alongside Article 161 and existing laws. The chair said that the SOE Act will not apply to the oil and gas sector companies where there is joint ownership.