Dent to depoliticisation goal: Bureaucrats’ rotation policy pushed into go-slow mode

ISLAMABAD: Political compulsions have forced the federal government to put into “go slow” mode the implementation of rotation policy -- also known as inter-provincial transfer policy -- for civil servants.

Successful implementation of the rotation policy will be a giant step towards the depoliticisation of civil bureaucracy, which has been the ruling party’s major commitment. However, so far it remains a far cry.

The government has been under tremendous pressure from politicians, bureaucrats and the provinces to make exceptions to the government's inter-provincial transfer policy for blue-eyed civil servants. The one at the helm of affairs, sources said, did not agree to this but allowed a “go-slow” strategy.

Owing to this approach, the second phase of en bloc postings and transfer of senior police officers could not take place and there is no clear as to when will it happen. The sources insist that unlike past the rotation policy has not been suspended despite all sorts of pressures which include resistance from provinces including Punjab. The federal government wants to give the provinces more time to shift officers, whose transfer orders so for remains unimplemented.

Many in the bureaucracy, however, believe that the fate of the policy might not be different from the past. “The ‘go-slow’ strategy will lead to the suspension of the policy,” a senior bureaucrat commented.

Within a fortnight of its inception, the government had amended the rotation policy for civil servants and had directed the Establishment Division to implement the policy without any exception.

The amended policy included a new clause, which read: “PAS/PSP (Pakistan Administrative Service/Police Service of Pakistan) officers of Basic Pay Scale (BPS)-21 and below, who have served in any provincial government or federal government for a continuous period of not less than 10 years, may be transferred to the federal government or other provinces, as the case may be, in the public interest."

"The period spent on extraordinary leave/earned leave/study leave/officer on special duty/training/deputation/foreign posting shall be excluded for the purpose of computing the continuous period of 10 years and will not be treated as a break.”

Under this policy, the Establishment Division, in the first phase, had notified the transfer of dozens of PAS officers in BPS 20-21, and rotated them between the provinces and centre. Most of these officers have joined their new regions of posting, but there are certain bureaucrats who have yet to comply with these orders.

Before the launch of the policy, it was decided that after the first batch of PAS senior officers the dozens of senior Police officers will be reshuffled but it didn’t happen. After the initiation of transfers under first phase, certain officers started exerting pressure on the PM Office and Establishment Division through provincial governments, senior bureaucrats, politicians and other influential quarters, so as to obtain exemptions from the rotation policy.

This reflects the pattern of the last three decades. Successive governments have been formulating inter-provincial transfer policy for the PAS (ex-District Management Group) and PSP officer, but none - including military ruler Pervez Musharraf - could implement it.

Each time, the implementation of these policies were thwarted within weeks, because exceptions were made under pressure from influential bureaucrats reluctant to leave their province of choice.