Inservice training: ‘5 secys stopped from attending course’

The ED had nominated 65 BS-21 officers but only 53 joined the course.

LAHORE:

Five Pakistan Administrative Service (PAS) officers working as provincial secretaries in the Punjab were not allowed to attend the National Management Course (NMC) on February 10 despite being selected by the Establishment Department (ED).

Agriculture Secretary Ijaz Munir, Literacy Secretary Pervez Ahmed Khan, Livestock and Dairy Development Secretary Aamir Ahmed, Food Secretary Muhammad Aslam and Tourism Development Corporation Punjab Managing Director Habibur Rehman Gillani were retained by the chief minister, an ED official speaking on the condition of anonymity told The Express Tribune.

The ED had nominated 65 BS-21 officers for the NMC, a requirement for promotion to BS-21, but only 53 officers joined the course in Lahore.

Eight officers, including the five provincial secretaries, were retained by the respective governments, the official said. The rest dropped out due to personal reasons, he added.

He said the federal government should nominate replacements to fill the 12 vacant slots, according to the training rules for civil servants.

“These slots have not been filled because of a lack of coordination between the ED, NMC and the government,” he said.

“The ED could have sent the officers replacing those who couldn’t make it till a week after the course began… but this was not done,” a PAS officer eligible for the course told The Express Tribune.

He said the provincial government had received nominations on January 17. “The decision to retain the five PAS officers was made on February 7, three days before the commencement of the course,” he added.

Services Secretary Syed Mubashar Raza told The Express Tribune that the government had decided to retain the officers “keeping in view their job requirements and availability in administrative hierarchy.”

He said it was the government’s prerogative to retain the officers, based on carrier paths and their status in promotion zones.

ED Joint Secretary Maqsood Akhtar Chaudhry said ED could only select alternative candidates if the department had received nominations and complete records of the officers before the course commenced.

“Usually the ED nominates more officers then the available seats keeping in view the capacity and the college faculty… Last year 60 officers were nominated for the same course but only 58 joined it,” he said.

The officers selected for NMC are required to attend lectures, complete research and analysis work, and go on tours. The government spends Rs800,000 on each officer selected for the 22-week course.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 21^st, 2014.