Technocrats sidelined in various KP departments

PESHAWAR: Several technically experienced officers of the various departments have been sidelined for a long time as bureaucrats took over more lucrative positions in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in recent years.

Some of these technocrats have been closed to the Establishment Department recently, who believe this was done to make space for officers of the top bureaucratic cadres. “Transfers were being used as tools to force technocrats into compliance. Those unwilling to work under dictates by bureaucrats were pushed aside,” a senior official disclosed.

A source informed this correspondent that a deputy director from the Directorate of Transport KP, who is a Fulbright Scholar as well as obtained degrees from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA, Purdue University, and ETH Zurich, was removed from his post a few months back.

“The officer, who is a technical expert in the field, has served as Chief Executive Officer of BRT Peshawar and has exposed illegal practices within the Transport Department. He resisted pressure to change findings in a departmental inquiry, after which he was made Officer on Special Duty and his services were handed over to the Establishment Department,” the source said and added that the officer was recruited for his technical expertise.

Besides, a woman grade 20 officer in the Population Welfare Department who was promoted as director general was abruptly made OSD and replaced by a PMS officer. There was no sanctioned BS-20 vacant post to accommodate her transfer and fund her salary. Another example was that of the director general of Rescue 1122, who was transferred and replaced with a bureaucrat.

A director general of Information and Public Relations was removed many months back, despite being in senior grade 20 and having all the relevant technical experience. “This trend signals a warning that technocrats being technically skilled but not bureaucratically submissive could become OSDs. It indicates there is no place for specialists, unwilling to bow to bureaucracy,” said the source. Many top offices are already occupied by bureaucrats without having the required technical experience. The officers of the Prisons Department had protested a few months back over the posting of a female bureaucrat as DIG. The IG prisons is already a bureaucrat like many of his predecessors.

“The Provincial Government has recently issued a toolkit under its internal accountability committee, titled “Right Man for the Right Job”. It emphasized job descriptions, policy-based postings, and the role of departmental standing committees in implementing these policies. However, these guidelines were openly violated,” said an officer.

He added that the apex courts have ruled repeatedly that transfers must follow due process and serve the public interest. “Posting a technical officer to a non-equivalent or irrelevant post without justification amounts to constructive punishment and violates Articles 10A and 25 of the Constitution,” said an officer.He said that Supreme Court rulings (e.g., 2020 SCMR 2026) prohibit sidelining or downgrading officers without a formal inquiry or cause.