Shortage of 140 PAS officers affecting Sindh govt’s functioning

A massive shortfall of Pakistan Administrative Service (PAS) officers, and the courts cancelling additional and look-after responsibilities of officers is adversely affecting the functioning of the Sindh government, with the public being the ultimate sufferer, the provincial cabinet’s meeting was told on Tuesday.

In the past three years the Sindh government has on an average been facing a 50 per cent shortage of grade-21 PAS officers, over 75 per cent of grade-20 officers and 80 per cent of grade-19 officers.

The provincial cabinet has decided to declare 58 posts of grades 20 and 21 “floating posts”, meaning that these senior posts can be filled with junior-grade officers of different cadres. The advisory group’s meeting held at the Sindh Chief Minister House, with CM Syed Murad Ali Shah in chair, was told that due to a massive shortfall of PAS officers, and the courts cancelling additional and look-after responsibilities of officers, a large number of important posts of the provincial government are lying vacant. The meeting was told that these circumstances are adversely affecting the functioning of the provincial government’s institutions, and that in such a situation the ultimate sufferer is the general public.

It was disclosed on the occasion that there are 25 posts of grade-21 in Sindh, and of them 16 posts belong to the PAS as its share, but only five PAS officers are currently working, with 11 posts lying vacant. Similarly, out of the 142 sanctioned posts of grade-20, the PAS has a share of 67 posts, but only 19 officers are working, with 48 posts lying vacant. Out of the 277 posts of grade-19, the PAS has a share of 59 posts, against which only 25 officers are working, with 34 posts lying vacant.

On this the CM said that in order to ensure the smooth functioning of the provincial government’s institutions, filling important positions has become necessary, so an effective and efficient service delivery system can be ensured. The serious shortfall of 140 PAS officers has happened because the federal government is reluctant to transfer these officers to Sindh against its due share, the cabinet was told.

It was pointed out that the details of the posts included in the share of PAS, the related working strength of the officers and the shortfall has been roughly worked out for the last six years. The average figures for the last three years paint a very grim picture as far as the availability of PAS officers of grade-19 and above is concerned, as the Sindh government faces a deficit of over 50 per cent in grade-21 posts, over 75 per cent in grade-20 and 80 per cent in grade-19, it was revealed.

Keeping in view the acute shortage of officers, the cabinet decided to declare 11 posts of grade-21, including Planning & Development Board chairman, CM Inspection & Enquiries Team chairman, Anti-Corruption Establishment chairman and Karachi commissioner, floating posts in grades 20 and 21.

On declaring these posts of grades 20 and 21 floating posts, they can also be filled by grade-20 officers of the PAS, Ex-Pakistan Civil Service and Provincial Secretariat Service cadres on the basis of seniority.

Water shortage

Irrigation Minister Jam Khan Shoro told the cabinet that the Indus River System Authority (Irsa) authorities had allowed transferring water from the Indus System to Jhelum-Chenab system through the CJ and TP link canals, and as a result, not only were the standing crops turning pale but the fear of shortage of drinking water has also emerged. The cabinet urged Irsa to stop flowing water into the Jhelum-Chenab system, and to release water to Sindh.

Load-shedding

Energy Minister Imtiaz Shaikh took up the issue of prolonged electricity load-shedding in the rural areas of the province. He said that the old transformers installed in the rural areas usually got burnt, and that their repair took four to five weeks, resulting in the poor suffering a lot. The advisory group urged the power distribution companies to overhaul their system, and to install new transformers in their system, particularly in the rural areas.