ISLAMABAD: The bureaucracy has sharply reacted to the PTI government’s decision of slashing 40 percent of the cadre posts of the Pakistan Administrative Service (PAS/ex-DMG) with Secretariat Group (also known as OMG) terming it as a mere eyewash. The PAS has termed it discouraging for the service, while the Provincial Management Services insists the prime minister and the cabinet were deceived on the issue.
The SG officers shared with The News some facts about the PAS actual strength vis a vis its cadre strength raising the question whether or not the prime minister and the federal cabinet were given the true picture about the PAS. The PMS too asserts that the PM and the cabinet have been deceived and wrong facts were presented before them. According to the reforms recently approved by the government and reported by The News, “The PAS cadre strength will be reduced by more than 600 to approximately 1,300 posts from the existing 1,900 plus posts.” The SG officers insist that the government’s claim of slashing 40 percent of the cadre posts (600 in number) of PAS, as reported in The News, is a mere eyewash and contrary to the facts on the ground.
“Through the purported changes, an impression was created as if the sanctioned strength of the group has been drastically reduced, the fact is that only the massive overkill is being reduced – but not eliminated,” the SG said. According to an SG officer, instead of making it an issue of inter-service rivalries, the media should just show the facts as they are. It is said that the total number of PAS officers in Pakistan, currently, is 823. Since there is a continuous process of new intake as well as retirements every year, the numbers do not change drastically. Therefore, according to the SG officers, the maximum number of positions PAS officers can hold at any given time does not exceed, 823. Instead, the actual number will be lower because a certain number of officers would be on deputation, training or leave at any given time.
Total seats allocated to PAS are 1,715 whereas the reforms as approved by the government and reported by The News story stated that these posts are 1,900. The only possible reason for providing an exaggerated number to the media could be to create the impression of giving away a large part when the actual cut is relatively smaller, the SG officers said. They add that for these 823 officers, there are 1,715 positions (or 1900, if the number is even accurate) allocated across Pakistan. It means that anywhere between 892 to 1,075 positions remain vacant at any given time. Since these are spread across the federal and provincial governments, the shortfall does not become easily visible. “But scratch the surface and you will find that it is a serious governance issue,” read the SG officers statement.
They said that in the federal government the shortage in BS-17 to BS-20 is acutely felt as a number of positions remain vacant and Establishment Division struggles to fulfill the demands for officers coming from ministries or divisions every day. Officers are brought in from other service groups as a stopgap arrangement, which is not an answer to the shortage in the Federal Secretariat and also creates deficiencies in the other groups. For instance, the PAS has been allocated 79 positions of BS-20 in the Federal Secretariat, however, only 49 officers of PAS are available against those positions and 30 positions remain vacant. During the promotion boards, these positions cannot be filled as officers will sufficient qualifying service is not available. It is said that the situation in BS-19 is even worse, as 84 positions have been reserved for PAS, against which only 6 officers are currently working.
They say that Secretariat Group in the federal government and PCS officers in the provinces have been highlighting the fact that PAS has apportioned for itself a much higher share than they can actually utilise. They have been demanding a higher number of positions for themselves, as these groups have the sufficient number of officers with the requisite qualifications to fill the gap. While the new arrangement will go some way in addressing their grievance, it will not address the larger governance issue in a meaningful way. “The much publicised reduction in PAS seats is therefore unlikely to make any major impact. Positions will continue to remain vacant, as 1,300 positions will still remain earmarked for 823 officers, without any chance of being filled in the next decade,” the SG officers’ statement concludes.
A senior office bearer of PMS Association, in his statement to The News, said, “These 1,900 seats are miscalculation and the honourable PM and cabinet have been deceived.” The PMS officer said that as against the constitution and law, the PAS, which is service of the Federation, is occupying provincial posts against Constitution. He said that almost all key positions in the provinces are occupied by federal PAS officers, who are not answerable to provincial governments and the provincial assemblies as their terms and conditions of service are determined in Islamabad. “This anomaly makes provincial assemblies and governments non-functional as the federal bureaucracy is not under their control,” he said, adding that PMS is the provincial bureaucracy and product of provincial assemblies as per Constitution. He said that the federal PAS officers should not work in provinces.
He said that even the 1954 CSP rules, which he termed as unconstitutional, gives PAS officers 146 provincial seats, and not 1,900. These 1,900 seats are a miscalculation. On Monday last, the PAS also reacted on the issue through former chief secretaries’ committee, which discussed the recently announced civil service reforms taking note of the issue of rationalising the cadre strength of posts of PAS in the provinces. The meeting was of the view that it was a settled issue, as the federal government and provincial governments had worked out the formula of sharing of the field posts a long time back in 1,954 and there existed no compelling need to revisit it now. The meeting added that the reduction of 600 posts for the PAS officers was likely to cause dissatisfaction among the junior officers who would be denied their professional requirement of the orientation of socio economic and other issues facing the people who are well identified during the field postings.
“Thus some ‘disconnect’ would occur between the practical experience of the officers, in the identification of issues existing on ground and their resolution through policy intervention, subsequently. The meeting urged the government to re-examine the issue in its entirety so as to avoid serious ramifications in the area of administrative management.”