Top bureaucrats raise eyebrows over new promotion scheme

Service of Pakistan Ordinance 2012 empowers govt to induct PCS officers to Grade 21.

ISLAMABAD:

A recently promulgated presidential ordinance empowering the federal government to induct Provincial Civil Services (PCS) officers to the Grade 21 rank in the Central Superior Services (CSS) has caused serious unrest in the bureaucracy in Islamabad.

The Service of Pakistan Ordinance 2012 has legally empowered the federal government to bypass the Central Selection Board (CSB) for the induction of officers to higher grades. The CSB is headed by the chairman of the Federal Public Service Commission (FPSC). With the induction of the PCS officers to Grade 21, the process of promoting CSS officers to the same grade will become unlikely.

The induction will be made on the recommendations of the provincial governments of Sindh, Balochistan, Gilgit-Baltistan (G-B) and the political administrator of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata). The PCS officers will be inducted to the posts of senior joint secretary and additional secretary.

Fazila Aaliyani Baloch, a former member of the FPSC said that she was happy over the move, as it would increase the number of officers from Balochistan, G-B, Fata, and mainly from Sindh in the CSS.

But at the same time, Fazila also opposed the move and termed it unfair for CSS officers. She told The Express Tribune, “I know that the senior officers of the Central Superior Services are deeply disappointed with the ordinance,” adding,  “It is virtually madness to encourage the PCS officers at the cost of highly qualified officers of the Central Superior Services.’’

Apparently, the ordinance is meant to address the imbalance in the number of officers from Sindh, Balochistan, G-B and Fata in the federal services, as it was felt by the federal government that the number of officers from Punjab and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa was much greater than them.

Fazila, who represented Balochistan in the FPSC, added that the ordinance was also against the interest of CSS officers from Sindh, Balochistan, G-B, Fata and Azad Kashmir, as they would also be deprived of their right of promotion to the next grade.

Many aggrieved officers told The Express Tribune on condition of anonymity that they were waiting for their promotion since the last two years, but were denied their right, as the CSB could not conduct its scheduled meetings as a few number of officers had obtained stay orders by the Islamabad High Court pertaining to the promotions.

Most of the Grade 20 officers feared that they would retire on the same grade with the implementation of the ordinance. They believe the ordinance was promulgated to benefit officers from a particular province only.

Punjab govt opposes ordinance

The government of Punjab has strongly reacted to the Service of Pakistan Ordinance 2012.

Senator Pervaiz Rashid of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) said the ordinance was aimed to manipulate the forthcoming general elections. “The PML-N will resist the passage of the ordinance in the National Assembly and Senate during a debate on the issue,” he told The Express Tribune.

“We would have been very happy if the ordinance had been issued to accommodate officers from Sindh, Balochistan, Gilgit-Baltistan and Fata to Grade 21 in Islamabad,” Rashid said. “But the federal government under the garb of this ordinance is trying to induct its own tested and trusted officers in the central services in Islamabad and other cities to get the desired results in the next general elections. PPP is making efforts to destroy the structure of the civil services for political gains.”

Edited by frayan doctor

Published in The Express Tribune, October 9^th, 2012.