Out of 41 ministries, only 21 have regular secretary

ISLAMABAD: Half of the posts of federal secretary in 41 ministries lack a regular secretary.

Federal secretary is a Grade-22 post but, at present, only 21 out of 41 ministries have Grade-22 officers. The posts of secretary of five ministries are vacant and another secretary has been given additional charge. Grade-21 officers have been appointed on 11 posts and contract officers on four posts. Each secretary is also the principal accounting officer of the ministry.

The reason for not having a secretary in Grade-22 is that no officer has been promoted to Grade-22 after February 2023, as the meeting of High-Powered Selection Board has not been convened. The promotion process in Grade-19 to 20 and Grade-20 to 21 has also stalled as no meeting of the Central Selection Board was convened after August 2023. As a result, bureaucracy suffers from ad-hocism at the highest level.

According to the Establishment Division, among Grade-22 federal secretaries are Kamran Ali Afzal, Secretary Cabinet Division; Jawad Pal, Secretary Commerce; Dr Kazim Niaz, Secretary Economic Affairs; Inamullah Dharejo, Secretary Establishment Division; Imdadullah Bosal, Secretary Finance Division; Dr Shehzad Bangash, Secretary Housing; Allah Dino Khawaja, Secretary Human Rights; Saif Anjum, Secretary Industry and Production; Khurram Agha, Secretary Interior; Dr Nadeem Irshad Kayani, Secretary Inter-provincial Coordination; Syed Zafar Ali Shah, Secretary Maritime Affairs; Hasan Nasir Jami, Secretary National Heritage and Culture; Dr Arshad Mahmood, Secretary Overseas Pakistanis Division; Hamair Ahmed, Secretary Parliamentary Affairs; Owais Manzoor Samra, Secretary Planning and Development; Naveed Ahmed Sheikh, Secretary Poverty Alleviation; Dr Muhammad Fakhr Alam Irfan, Secretary Power Division; Zulfiqar Haider, Secretary Religious Affairs; Zafar Hassan, Secretary Safran, and Ali Murtaza, Secretary Water Resources. The posts of secretary at four ministries are vacant. The post of Secretary Anti-Narcotics is vacant and the charge has been given to Interior Secretary Khurram Agha. The post of Secretary National Security Division is vacant. The post of Secretary Privatisation Division is vacant and its charge has been given to Commerce Secretary Jawad Pal. The charge of Secretary Revenue Division has been given to Chairman FBR Rashid Langrial. The post of Secretary Communications is vacant, the charge of which has been given to Special Secretary Ali Sher Mehsud. Secretary IT Zarar Hashim Khan and Secretary Law Raja Naeem Akbar are posted on contract. Secretary Defence Lt-Gen Muhammad Ali and Secretary Defence Production Lt-Gen (Retd) Muhammad Chirag Haider have also been posted on contract. Among the Grade-21 officers are Secretary Aviation Ahsan Ali Mangi, Secretary Climate Change Ayesha Humira Chaudhry, Education Secretary Muhyiddin Wani, Secretary Kashmir Affairs Waseem Ajmal Chaudhry, Secretary Food Security Ali Tahir, Secretary Health Nadeem Mehboob, Secretary Petroleum Momin Agha, Secretary Railway Syed Mazhar Ali Shah, Secretary Science and Technology Sajid Baloch and Secretary SIFC Jameel Ahmed Qureshi. There is frustration among the bureaucracy because of no meeting of the High-Powered Selection Board and Central Selection Board. According to the policy, the promotion board should hold two meetings in a year.