Senior civil servants await postings

ISLAMABAD: As many as 48 senior bureaucrats from various services cadres are awaiting postings by the Establishment Division. Some of them have been Officers on Special Duties (OSDs) for more than a year while others are nearing one year.

Many of these officers have distinguished careers and service records. Some of them are also recipients of civil awards in recognition of their meritorious services. These senior officers are between grade 20 to grade 22, and belong to the Pakistan Administrative Service, Police Service, Secretariat Group, Inland Revenue Service, Customs Service, Information Group and Pakistan Audit and Accounts.

The offices include federal secretaries, additional secretaries, joint secretaries and inspectors general of police. As many as 14 officers are in grade 22, another 14 in grade 21 and 20 are in grade 20.

Officers in grade 22 include Zafar Hassan, Mohammed Azam Khan, Umar Rasool, Mohammed Usman Chachar, Abdul Aziz Oqaili, and Ezaz Aslam Dar. Other officers include Tahir Khursheed, Gulzar Hussain Shah, Musaddiq Ahmed Khan, Sanaullah Abbasi, Mushtaq Ahmed Maher, Dr Mohammed Sulaiman, Farrukh Shahrukh, Mohammad Amir Zulfiqar Khan, Inam Ghani, Ahmed Mukhram, Mohammad Sayeed, Farina Mazhar, Abdul Ghufran Memon and Sohail Ali Khan.

The delay in their postings persists despite a Supreme Court ruling in a constitutional petition titled Anita Turab versus Federation of Pakistan, which had decided that no government employee should be posted as OSD except under compelling circumstances. The ruling further said placing an officer as OSD was tantamount to penalizing him/her because the expression OSD was not known to either the Civil Servant Act, 1973 or Civil Servants Appointment, Promotion, and Transfer Rules, 1973.

The Supreme Court had further ruled that officers should not be posted as OSD except for compelling reasons, which must be recorded in writing, and which can be subjected to judicial review.

A senior bureaucrat, talking to The News on condition of anonymity, said “The continued delay in postings points to serious issues in the service structure and is extremely demoralizing. In the past, it was a practice the Secretaries Committee would take cognizance of victimization and witch-hunting of their officers and would protect their rights. The committee would act as a buffer against unfair demands of political leadership and would convince them to post competent officers. Now the Secretaries Committees has been reduced to non-existence,” he said.

The officer lamented it was tragic that such a situation had arisen despite several Supreme Court judgments which laid down the principles in support of civil bureaucracy to function without fear and favour and political intervention. He added the Establishment Division had failed to make use of these court rulings to protect the interests of senior civil servants.