Govt appraisals: PM promotes 33 bureaucrats to BPS-22

Directs Establishment Division to ensure timely promotions.

ISLAMABAD: Premier Raja Pervaiz Ashraf on Wednesday promoted 33 officers belonging to various occupational groups of the civil service to BPS-22, according to the Prime Minister House.

The decision was taken in a meeting of a high-powered committee chaired by Prime Minister Ashraf in Islamabad and the promotions included Rasheed Ahmad from Punjab who is serving as the acting information secretary.

The premier stated that the officers had been promoted strictly on the basis of “merit, performance and seniority in line with rules and regulations”.

Sources at the PM House revealed that the premier also directed the Establishment Division to ensure proper career planning of these officers — a directive that was issued to Establishment Secretary Taimur Azmat.



He said, “The timely promotion of officers is critical to maintain the morale of the bureaucracy, motivate them and improve their efficiency”. Consequently, he directed the Establishment Division to ensure that promotions of deserving officers in all grades are held on time.

He ordered all administrative and legal requirements to be fulfilled so that promotion cases were processed expeditiously. He also expressed hope that government servants, especially those associated with public dealing and in the delivery chain, would utilise their experience and capabilities to address the grievances of people.



After the Supreme Court’s suggestion that new rules be implemented to promote the most deserving civil service candidates, there is strong resentment among top bureaucrats over the new selection criteria framed by the High Powered Selection Board (HPSB).

The Supreme Court had issued the directions when it declared the promotion of 54 officers null and void ordered by then prime minister Yousaf Raza Gilani, on grounds that merit was completely disregarded.

In a five-page notification, the new criteria for promotion states: “Twenty-five years service in BSP-17 and has completed at least two years in a post in BPS-21 and no penalty under Government Servants Rules 1973.”

The last meeting of the high-powered committee was held on April 12 this year.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 27^th, 2012.