Timely reforms

The rules that govern the civil service in Pakistan are arcane in the extreme, obscure, open to a range of interpretations and most importantly open to widespread abuse. The federal secretariat is supposed to be the place where policy is made and to be an intellectual pool of resources across a range of occupational groups. There has been a revision of some of the more glaring anomalies by the SRO, a move that has not delighted some of those who have long exercised territorial imperative when it comes to recruitment and advancement. Appointment to the Civil Service has now been made the exclusive domain of the Federal Public Service Commission (FPSC). This is a constitutional body that is at ‘arms length’ and at least in theory beyond the influence of politicians or sitting governments. Discretionary appointments can no longer be made, which was the privilege of the President and obviously open to abuse. The removal of that privilege is a significant curtailment of presidential power.

Appointments are now to be made on merit, and the Provincial Selection Boards of each province will henceforward submit names to the FPSC which will examine the candidates and appoint accordingly. This is in line with the spirit of Article 240 of the Constitution that envisaged an ‘All-Pakistan’ service that was common to the federation as well as the provinces. Impediments to promotion have been removed and hopefully the stagnation of civil servants stranded for many years in limbo with no chance of advancement will be mitigated. Contrary to some stories being bruited about the Police Service and the Foreign Service are not affected by this SRO, and the Secretariat group itself is minimally affected. The changes are wide-ranging and in some ways no less complex than the regulations they replace, but they do address a range of long-standing grievances within the civil service where a culture of mediocrity nurtured by political patronage has taken root in the last decade. 

Published in The Express Tribune, March 3^rd, 2014.

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