Top civil service job: Four candidates in running for chief secretary

Tariq Bajwa favourite ahead of Nadeem Hassan Asif, Sami Saeed and Naveed Cheema.

LAHORE:

Four bureaucrats are in the running for the post of chief secretary, the top civil service position in the province, vacated on October 14 when Javed Aslam was posted principal secretary to the prime minister.

The federal government appoints the chief secretary of each province, but subject to the consent of the chief minister. Sami Saeed, Tariq Bajwa, Nadeem Hassan Asif and Naveed Akram Cheema are the four candidates for the job in the Punjab, The Express Tribune has learnt.

Bajwa, who is very close to Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif, is believed to be the favourite for the position. A BS-21 officer of the Pakistan Administrative Service, formerly known as the District Management Group, Bajwa is currently serving as chairman of the Federal Board of Revenue. He joined the civil service in September 1982 and is scheduled to retire in June 2017. He served as the Punjab’s finance secretary for two year before joining the federal government. He is known as a soft-spoken man popular among his colleagues and juniors.



Asif is the second-favourite for the post. He has previously served as home secretary and as secretary to the chief minister and is also close to Shahbaz Sharif. He joined the DMG in September 1981 and was promoted to BS-21 in January 2010. He is scheduled to retire in 2018. He is known as submissive and obedient and one who avoids confrontation. He is currently chairman of the Capital Development Authority and has good ties with parliamentarians and bureaucrats.

Saeed, the most senior bureaucrat lobbying for the post, is currently serving as establishment secretary, making him the boss of all civil servants in the country. He joined the DMG in April 1980 and was promoted to BS-22 in October 2010. He is scheduled to retire in January 2015. He has previously served as chairman of Planning and Development, as senior member of the Board of Revenue and as additional chief secretary of the Punjab under a PML-N government. He is a close friend of former chief secretary Javed Mehmood. Saeed is not so popular among colleagues and is known to be rigid and unaccommodating, officials said.

Cheema is also a BS-22 officer and is currently serving as federal housing secretary. He was kicked out of his post as the Punjab forests secretary by former chief secretary Javed Mehmood for negligence in making sanitation arrangements at Jallo Park.

Several senior officers said that the chief secretary was like a father figure to the civil servants in the province and the job required patience, experience and balance. “A rigid or arrogant secretary would demoralise officers,” one official said.

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