No respect for bureaucrats’ tenure

ISLAMABAD: The government has changed the federal secretary health four times in the middle of coronavirus pandemic, raising a question on the mechanism that it had introduced to secure the tenure of bureaucrats.

The Establishment Division on Monday notified the appointment of Amir Ashraf Khawaja as Secretary Health. Khawaja is the fourth secretary health in the last three months.

Earlier on March 5, secretary health Allah Bakhsh Malik was changed prematurely and replaced with Dr Tauqir Shah on 6th March. However, six days later on March 12 Dr Tauqir was replaced with Dr Tanveer Qureshi. Qureshi, who took over as secretary health on 12th March, was transferred on Monday, 18th May. The new secretary health is now Amir Ashraf Khawaja, who was also prematurely transferred initially from the industries and then from the information technology. As part of civil service reforms, a high-level committee was constituted to regulate the posting and transfer of key bureaucrats, including the federal secretaries, and protect them from premature transfers.

The said committee, it is said, is though still in place, key bureaucrats are frequently changed without caring for their tenure, and in violation of the Supreme Court’s order in Anita Turab case.

When a senior aide to the prime minister was contacted, he confided to The News that the process was fallowed and the committee was consulted on these frequent changes in the health ministry.

He said the federal secretaries were frequently changed either because of dissatisfaction of their respective ministers or they were reluctant to take the responsibility they were assigned.

Asked if the same applied in the case of Dr Tauqir Shah, who was known for his competence but was removed within a week after his appointment as federal secretary health, he said, "Tauqir Shah is a competent officer, but he was changed because of political pressure."

Contrary to what the government aide said, sources claim that the government while changing the chief secretary Punjab, secretary interior, secretary commerce, secretary cabinet and last three health secretaries had generally bypassed the cabinet committee established under Arbab Shahzad, PM’s Special Assistant on Establishment.

Four chief secretaries and five IGPs have been changed during the last 18 months in Punjab. Nine secretaries of higher education department have been changed in 18 months in the province.

There is hardly any department in Punjab where repeated changes at the top level have not been made. The recent FIA report on wheat crisis has referred to repeated changes made in the food department as one of the major reasons for the crisis.

In six months, four times the provincial food sectary was changed whereas the district level food officers were also changed frequently and repeatedly.

Commissioners, deputy commissioner, assistant commissioners, city and district police officers in the province have also been transferred frequently, and perhaps there is not even a single officer who has been allowed to complete his tenure.

In Anita Turab case, the SC had laid down the following principles to save the government servants from politicization.

i) Appointments, Removals and Promotions: Appointments, removals and promotions must be made in accordance with the law and the rules made thereunder; where no such law or rule exists and the matter has been left to discretion, such discretion must be exercised in a structured, transparent, and reasonable manner and in the public interest.

ii) Tenure, posting, and transfer: When the ordinary tenure for a posting has been specified in the law or rules made thereunder, such tenure must be respected and cannot be varied, except for compelling reasons, which should be recorded in writing and are judicially reviewable.

iii) Illegal orders: Civil servants owe their first and foremost allegiance to the law and the Constitution. They are not bound to obey orders from superiors which are illegal or are not in accordance with accepted practices and rule Const. based norms; instead, in such situations, they must record their opinion and, if necessary, dissent.

iv) OSD: Officers should not be posted as OSD except for compelling reasons, which must be recorded in writing and are judicially reviewable. If at all, an officer is to be posted as OSD, such posting should be for the minimum period possible, and if there is a disciplinary inquiry going on against him, such inquiry must be completed at the earliest.

The SC had said that although it was conscious that the aforesaid matters relate to decision making and administration of the machinery of the State, we have recognized the need for ensuring that decision making in relation to tenure, appointments, promotions and transfers remains rule based and is not susceptible to arbitrariness or absolute and unfettered discretion.

Under the apex court’s direction, the copies of the judgment were sent to the federal secretary Establishment, the chief secretaries of the provinces, commissioner Islamabad Capital Territory and to the secretaries of all federal and provincial government departments.

However, generally this landmark judgment has been overlooked by the authorities concerned.