Civil Secretariat Peshawar: Selection board violates promotion rules

Officials have appealed to the governor and chief justice of the Peshawar High Court to take notice of the decision.

PESHAWAR:

Civil Secretariat Peshawar employees holding the position of private secretary’s (PS) were passed over for promotions, going against a formula applicable for both PS and superintendents (SI) under the Provincial Management Services (PMS) 2007 rules.

The Provincial Selection Board (PBS) – an apex body within the secretariat which deals with promotions – headed by the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) chief secretary sent a notification regarding the promotions on Friday. This excluded all PS who were awaiting the rank of section officers (SO).

After December 4, 2012, it was decided and duly notified – out of the 20% joint promotion quota for private secretaries and superintendents, as established by the Provincial Management Services rules; two PS would be promoted for every three SI pushed up the ranks.

However, after a recent meeting of the PSB, eight superintendents were promoted to SOs much to the annoyance of the private secretaries. This meant the board made the promotions according to retrospect rules based on the abolished joint-seniority list.

“The working paper placed before the PBS said to promote five superintendents and three PS to senior officers according to the agreed summary, but surprisingly it was not acted upon,” an official said. The summary was prepared to take immediate effect for ‘future vacancies’, he added.

The Express Tribune learnt further irregularities occurred in the promotions, wherein instead of promotions to just the eight available seats; a ninth promotion was also made. Allegedly, this was meant to favour an acting section officer in the PSB by permanently making him a section officer.

Under the Provincial Management Services rules, out of the total 604 posts, 50% would be recruited through open advertisements, 20% would be tehsildars and 20% would be PS and SI (to be distributed with 2:3 ratio among them with PS having 48 posts and Superintendents 72 posts) and the remaining 10% would be recruited through in-service employees examination.

Official sources said the decision of the PSB, taken on February 28, 2013, to promote superintendents at the cost of the private secretary quota will cap the promotion of PS for several years.

Officials have appealed to the governor, chief minister and the chief justice of the Peshawar High Court to take notice of the decision. One official said the decision is causing growing frustration among employees who were waiting their turn for promotions.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 23^rd, 2013.