"We have asked the K-P govt to take notice of the illegal tactics employed by the secretariat group’s officials and demanded the law be upheld," PMS officer. PHOTO: FILE
Various cadres of the civil bureaucracy are at loggerheads regarding their sphere of duties in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P), jeopardising the working of the government machinery, The Express Tribune has learnt.
The civil bureaucracy is made up of three groups of provincial services – the Provincial Management Services (PMS), Provincial Civil Services-Secretariat group (PCS-SG) and Provincial Civil Services-Executive group (PCS-EG).
“In 2007, new PMS rules were introduced and both PCSs were declared a dying cadre with no more induction in the future. Since then PCS-Secretariat group has been trying to survive while the PCS-Executive group is silently waiting for retirement,” said an official familiar with the matter.
The officials of the PCS-Secretariat have been ‘illegally’ using manipulation tactics to get field postings so they could claim to be a part of the PMS group and thus be merged with it, alleged the official.
“The PMS group is strongly opposed to the attempts of PCS-Secretariat’s officials,” a PMS officer told The Express Tribune. He said he was also an office bearer of the PMS Officer Association which is very concerned over the ‘illegal’ moves made by the secretariat group.
“Officials of the PCS-Secretariat group can only work in the secretariat, they are not eligible for field postings,” he claimed. “Secretariat group officers cannot be posted on field duty because revenue management is not a part of their training, while PMS officers are taught the course,” the official said.
“We have asked the K-P government to take notice of the illegal tactics employed by the secretariat group’s officials and demand the law be upheld,” he added.
The PMS Officer Association held a meeting earlier in the week and decided to seek the Supreme Court of Pakistan’s help if proper steps were not taken to prevent the secretariat group from usurping the rights of PMS officials.
Participants of the meeting expressed concerns over the recent field posting of Mutasim Billah, an official of the secretariat group, as the Deputy Commissioner (DC) of Swabi. They fear the posting may set a precedent and pave way for the secretariat group to become equal to the PMS.
On the other hand, the PCS-SG Officers Association has termed Billah’s posting as DC a breakthrough for the group and considers it a step towards good governance in the province.
The rivalry between the groups began in 2010 when the secretariat group unsuccessfully attempted to pass a law through the K-P Assembly to merge it with the PMS, but met with fierce resistance from the latter.
The PMS official maintained the secretariat submitted a petition to the Peshawar High Court after failing to get the law passed. The court then turned the petition into an application and sent it to the K-P chief secretary who formed a committee, which came to the conclusion that the secretariat group cannot be merged with the PMS group till the retirement of its last official.
It was learnt the summary regarding the proposed merger of both groups is currently awaiting approval from newly-appointed K-P Chief Secretary Shehzad Arbab.
Published in The Express Tribune, June 22nd, 2013.
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