While seeking pay raise, bureaucracy ignores other 2 million govt employees

ISLAMABAD: Bureaucracy is befooling the government as the Secretaries Committee has recommended huge raise in the salaries of federal secretaries besides 100% increase for all employees of the Federal Secretariat without informing the rulers that these recommendations if approved with further distort the unified pay scale system.

The Secretaries’ Committee recommendations are primarily meant to serve the interest of yet another selected class of civil bureaucracy, which besides distorting the unified pay scale system will cause heart burning among the vast majority of government servants who will not be offered the same raise.

Interestingly what the Secretaries’ Committee is recommending to the government will create yet another exception while following the precedents which were cleverly created and followed one after the other to benefit the most influential groups within the country’s civil service.

Additionally, the Secretaries’ Committee decision if approved and implemented by the government will most benefit the secretaries themselves. According to the committee’s recommendations, a uniform raise of 120% of basic pay as “Secretariat Allowance” for all employees- BS-1 to BS-22- of the Federal Secretariat but in addition the federal secretaries and additional secretaries in charge of the ministries and division should be given “reasonable” executive allowance, which in the committee minutes is mentioned as Rs400,000 per month.

Special pay raises given to special groups of government servants from time to time through executive orders have completely distorted the unified pay scale system, introduced for the civil bureaucracy in 1973 through Administrative Reforms.

Bypassing the legislature, the repeated interventions from the executive have created such absurd islands of exceptions. In 2018, initially it was the KP government which allowed 150% raise given as “Executive Allowance” only to PAS (ex-DMG) and PMS (ex-PCS) officers serving in the province.

Mid last year (July 2019) the Buzdar government while following the KP precedent raised by 150% the running basic salary of provincial bureaucratic elite without consulting the Provincial Assembly. This highly discriminatory raise was linked with selected almost 1700 posts in the name of “Executive Allowance”. The beneficiaries predominately belong to ex-DMG (now Pakistan Administrative Service) and ex-PCS (presently called Provincial Management Service). This phenomenal raise was approved by the provincial cabinet and notified on 29th of July within weeks after the Punjab Assembly passed the provincial budget.

The posts earmarked for the “Executive Allowance” include almost all posts of provincial secretaries, additional chief secretaries, members of board of revenue, additional secretaries, deputy secretaries, section officers, commissioners, deputy commissioners, assistant commissioners, revenue officials, special judicial magistrates. However, no below grade 17 officer in these departments/ offices was allowed this raise.

This raise in Punjab had upset a PM’s key aide, who, according to sources, had told the prime minister that the Punjab had further distorted the unified pay scale system. However, now the Secretaries’ Committee has recommended huge pay raise for only those officers who are serving in the Federal Secretariat.

The committee asked the Finance Ministry to immediately move a summary for the approval of the prime minister and his cabinet without referring the matter to the Parliament. The committee seeks the raise with effect from January 1, 2020.

Before the KPK and Punjab, the Supreme Court, High Courts, FBR, NAB etc had allowed their employees to draw higher salaries than other.

It is said that such exceptional raises for selected influential classes of the civil bureaucracy would ignore predominant majority of the government servants.

According to a senior authority, associated with the government’s reform work, instead of giving huge raises in salaries to selected classes there is a need to evolve a system of performance-based salary raise. The one who serves better should get better salary than others.

Through the 1973 Administrative Reforms, all the services and cadres were merged into a single unified graded structure with equality of opportunity for all who enter the service at any stage based on the required professional and specialised competence necessary for each job. All ‘classes’ among government servants were abolished and replaced by a single unified graded structure.

The Article 240 of the Constitution envisages that condition of service of persons in the Service of Pakistan shall be determined by the Parliament. Under this Article, the terms and conditions of service of persons in the Service of Pakistan shall be determined- (a) in the services of the Federation, posts in connection with the affairs of the Federation and All-Pakistan Services, by or under Act of (Majlis-e-Shoora (Parliament); and (b) in the case of the services of a province and post in connection with the affairs of a province, by or under Act of the provincial assembly. However, none of the provinces had bothered to refer the case to the Parliament or the respective provincial assemblies.