Tackling wrangling bureaucracy a challenge for Chief Secretary

PESHAWAR: Tackling the wrangling associations of the officers belonging to three different cadres of the provincial bureaucracy is one of the challenges that Abid Saeed would have to overcome during his term as Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s new chief secretary.

That’s what at least could be inferred from a letter released to the media on October 10 by one of these associations. It reiterated a number of allegations against the former chief secretary Amjad Ali Khan. The officer, who claimed to be the member of the short-term cabinet of the Provincial Civil Services (PCS) Officers Association, released the letter seeking initiation of a formal inquiry against the ex-chief secretary to probe his “wrong-doings” that the letter said “have also led to misgovernance in the province.”

It also cited purported actions of the former chief secretary as a contributing factor that forced 700 PCS and Provincial Service (PMS) officers in March to observe token strike daily for around two months.

However, some of the officers think that the strike was actually the upshot of the treatment meted out to Fahad Ikram Qazi, then assistant political agent (APA) North Waziristan Agency (NWA), who was stopped at Saidgi check-post and then was barred from entering the agency of his posting on March 23, 2016.

Later, Fahad Ikram Qazi spearheaded the agitation against the former chief secretary that culminated in a symbolic daily pen-down strike in March which was followed by protest sit-in that continued till May.

Meanwhile, the provincial government formed a cabinet committee headed by Senior Minister for Irrigation Sikandar Khan Sherpao to look into the matter. Senior Minister for Local Government Inayatullah Khan and Finance Minister Muzaffar Sayed were its members.

The committee was constituted to solve the issues between the provincial civil servants and officers belonging of the Pakistan Administrative Service (PAS) cadre, previously known as district management group (DMG). These issues pertain to the promotion, career progression and extension of service schedule.

Fahad Ikram Qazi, currently coordinator of the interim cabinet of the PCS Officers Association led by senior officer Abdullah Mehsud as chairman and Ghafoor Baig as president, informed that the committee had submitted its report to the chief minster suggesting solution to the problems being faced by the provincial civil servants. He said Chief Minister Pervez Khattak had already approved the committee report; but it hasn’t been implemented so far.

“We now expect the incumbent chief secretary, Abid Saeed, to put into practice the reforms suggested by the cabinet committee to avoid the agitation like the one pursued by the PMS and PCS officers in the recent past. It will also augur well for good-governance in the province and its people who need it the most,” he said.

Sajid Khan Jadoon, President PCS (Secretariat Group) Officers Association, also shared the impression that solving the issues of the officers is inevitable. He said that a number of reforms would have to be initiated to avoid any acrimony and bitterness among the officers of different cadres of federal and provincial bureaucracies.

However, an officer of the Establishment Department who declined to speak on record did not support the argument of the PCS officers. He said the former chief secretary had started resolving the issues raised by the provincial civil servants that included promotions, nomination for training, posting, etc.

He also shared a document regarding the issue with The News and said the PMS and PCS Officers Associations’ representatives had met former chief secretary in May last and presented a charter of demands.

The officer said that in the light of the recommendations of the cabinet committee, the Establishment Department took a number of steps over the last one year which also included promotion of 193 officers that is more than the number of promotions in the last 10 years.He said during 2016 six Provincial Selection Boards (PSB) have been held, whereby scores of officers have been promoted.

The officer added that eight PCS EG (BS-20) officers and 12 PCS EG (BS-20) have been sent for National Management Course (NMC) while 13 PCS EG (BS-19) and 10 PCS SG (BS-19) officers have been sent for Senior Management Course (SMC).

Similarly, he said 13 PMS (BS-18) and one PCS SG officer have also been sent for mid-career management course (MCMC) during the last one year, the officer.

He said the Establishment Department has started efforts to repatriate all those deputationists who have completed their normal tenure of three years at the first stage. A summary has been moved to chief minster to repatriate all the deputationists working on the cadre posts, he informed.

The officer, however, acknowledged that fact that resolving issues between the PAS and PCS would remain a challenge for the chief secretary to overcome. The top bureaucrat would have to take some confidence-building-measures to reassure the provincial civil service cadre officers that their grievances are being taken care of by his office.