Employees of 58 selected federal entities draw higher salaries

ISLAMABAD: In a serious distortion of the basic pay scale scheme, government servants belonging to 58 entities draw extra allowances and, in some cases, their salaries are two to three times higher than those of ordinary government servants.

Interestingly these entities include authorities like the President’s Secretariat, Prime Minister’s Office, the National Assembly, Senate Secretariat and all the superior courts which according to their mandate are supposed to ensure fairplay, equality and merit.

In a recent notification issued by the Finance Ministry for the grant of a Disparity Reduction Allowance at the rate of 25 percent of the basic pay scales to civil employees in BS-20-22 of the federal government, the ministry listed the names of those 58 entities whose employees are already drawing extra allowances.

The 25 percent allowance has not been offered to the employees of these 58 entities. According to the notification, “This allowance shall be admissible to civil employees in BPS 20-22 of the federal government (including employees of the Federal Secretariat and attached departments), who have never been allowed additional allowance equal to or more than 100 percent of the basic pay or performance allowance. According to the notification the following is the list of organisations whose employees are drawing extra allowances:

President/Prime Minister Secretariat; all superior courts; the National Accountability Bureau; Inter-Services Intelligence; Intelligence Bureau; Federal Investigation Agency; National Assembly; Senate Secretariat; Federal Board of Revenue; Law & Justice Commission of Pakistan; Accountability Courts; Special Judge (Customs Taxation & Anti-Smuggling); Special Judge (Central); Banking Courts; Special Courts (Control of Narcotics Substance); Special Court (Offence in Banks); Special Court (Anti-terrorism); Competition Appellate Tribunal; Intellectual Property Tribunal; Drug Courts; Anti-Dumping Appellate Tribunal; Senior Civil Judge West Islamabad; Senior Civil Judge East Islamabad; Islamabad Capital Territory Police; National Highways & Motorways Police; Islamabad Model Traffic Police; Civil Armed Forces; Federal Services Tribunal; Central Health Establishment and its Field Offices; Appellate Tribunal Inland Revenue; Customs Excise and Sales Tax Appellate Tribunal; Health personnel/health establishments; Parliamentary Affairs Division; District Population Welfare Office; Environmental Protection Tribunal; Clinical Regional Training Institute; Directorate General of Special Education; National Institute of Rehabilitative Medicines; National Institute of Special Education; Rehabilitation Centre for Children and Development Disorders Islamabad; National Council for Rehabilitation; National Braille Press Islamabad; Rehabilitation Unit Vocational Rehabilitation & Employment of Disabled person, Islamabad; National Mobility & Independence Training Centre; National Training Centre for Special Persons G-9/2 Islamabad; Vocational Rehabilitation & Employment of Disabled persons SC-1, Islamabad; Provision of Hostel Facilities at NSEC VHC Islamabad; National Special Education Centre for PHC Islamabad; National Special Education Centre; National Library & Resource Centre Islamabad; National Trust for the Disabled; Common Unit to Manage Global Fund; the civilian employees of PAF who are drawing an additional allowance as allowed vide Finance Division order dated 19-12-2012; Trade Development of Pakistan, an autonomous body under the Ministry of Commerce, Islamabad; and Gwadar Port Authority, an autonomous body under the Ministry of Maritime Affairs, Islamabad.

The distortions caused in the salary structure has led to widespread resentment in the bureaucracy owing to which the government allowed the 25 percent Disparity Reduction Allowance to those employees who were previously not offered any special raise.

Additionally, Prime Minister Imran Khan has assigned the Pay and Pension Commission to study the entire basic pay scale system to remove distortions in salaries of different government servants for the uniformity and streamlining of existing classification from BPS 1-22.

The Commission has also been assigned the task of overhauling the pension scheme by evaluating alternate systems of pensions, like defined contribution and setting up of pension funds in the light of international best practices.

According to the terms of reference as approved by the prime minister, the Commission in terms of pay and allowances has been assigned to:

a) Study the adequacy of the existing Basic Pay Scale System and to evaluate the current salaries of government employees throughout the federation including the provincial government and recommend measures for the streamlining of the existing classification from BPS 1-22.

b) Study the separation of existing Basic Pay Scales for specialized departments/occupations/cadres.

c) Review special scales such as Management Grades, Management Position Scales (MP Scales), Special Professional Pay Scales (SPPS), Project Pay Scales etc. and propose measures for uniformity and improvement.

d) Review admissible regular allowances, special incentives and all other allowances with a view to highlight prevalent distortions and recommend corrective measures.

e) Review existing perks and facilities and make recommendations, including the possibility of their monetization.