and Taxation and secretary provincial ombudsman. The provincial government has also posted a grade-19 officer as secretary Excise and Taxation, which is a BS-20 and 21 position. This officer is also holding the charge of the special secretary of the chief minister’s secretariat. The majority of the grade-19 posts are occupied by grade-18 officers irrespective of their occupational groups. These 44 grade-18 officers occupying grade-19 posts include 22 deputy commissioners, seven additional secretaries, five political agents, three additional commissioners, one chief of section, director civil defence, director (admin) Excise and Taxation, secretary Public Service Commission and vice commissioner Employees Social Security Institution. Moreover, 18 officers of grade-17 have been posted on positions of BS-18. They include the settlement officers in Chitral, Mansehra and Nowshera, four deputy secretaries and principal staff officers, two secretaries to commissioner, four district officers (Finance and Planning), two assistant political agents and deputy director Excise and Taxation. The slot of the deputy commissioner is a grade-19 schedule post, but 22 of the 26 deputy commissioners at the moment are grade-18 officers.
Only four Provincial Civil Service Executive Group (PCS-EG) officers including Zakaullah Khattak, DC Nowshera, Riaz Khan Mehsud, DC Peshawar, Aminul Haq, DC Chitral and Syed Mujeebur Rehman, DC Hangu, are in grade-19. The rest of the DCs are grade-18 officers occupying senior and higher grade posts. The PMS officers are mostly bearing the brunt of the violation of merit in postings. Only one PMS officer of grade-18, Zariful Maani, is currently posted as deputy commissioner Battagram.
The other 25 posts of deputy commissioner are occupied by nine PCS-EG and 16 PAS officers in various districts.
However, the PMS officers are well placed when it comes to the field postings as assistant commissioners (ACs). Among the 57 ACs posted in 26 districts, 32 are PMS officers while 25 of the ACs belong to the PAS group of the central civil service.