PMS officers show reservations on civil service reform process

LAHORE: All Pakistan Provincial Management Service (PMS) Officers Association has shown its reservations over the reforms proposed by Dr Irshad Hussain-led Federal Task Force on Civil Service Reforms for the civil services of the country.

The association’s coordinator Tariq Mahmood Awan said that the task force did not take into confidence the association while preparing or introducing the reforms in the civil service structure.

“We 3,800 PMS/PCS officers of four provinces have serious reservations on the civil service reforms process”, he added. All Pakistan PMS Association claimed that 3,500 posts were earmarked for PAS officers across the country against 800 existing officers. The vacuum of 2,700 administrative seats is the real cause of non-performance of the civil service. The purpose of 2,700 additional posts was to ensure each PAS officer reaching grade 22 and enjoying posting on important provincial and federal posts at very junior level. This practice had failed the whole system of governance. The association was of the view that civil service reforms should be done in line with administrative federalism, subject service correlation, provincial autonomy and good governance.

Moreover, post-18th Amendment and with abolition of concurrent list, there is no justification of federal PAS officers working and occupying on the slots of provinces. Despite the unconstitutional posting of federal PAS officers in provinces, PAS officers have grabbed 1947 posts against the impugned rule 7 (1) of CSP, rules 1954. Their earmarked posts according to only available document (this document is already challenged in Supreme Court) are 147 and they have grabbed 1947 posts even without giving a single post of federation to provinces.

The PAS officers are federal officers and their terms and condition of service are settled in the establishment division and under the current arrangement covered under CSP rules-Chief Minister of a province cannot evaluate the performance of a PAS officer and also cannot hold him (officer) accountable for misconduct or poor performance. Not only CM but also respective provincial cabinet and assembly also cannot hold a PAS officer accountable and this situation causes poor performance. The government is mandated to form policies and the civil servants being implementers of the policies, if do not fall under respective political executive, then it is a great contradiction to the federalism, governance and accountability. In this regard, the association wrote a letter to Prime Minister and requesting him that PMS/PCS officers of Pakistan want that honourable PM may take a presentation on the anomalies of civil service and reform civil service in line with constitution, law and good human resource management.