NES to outcast Secretariat Group and OMG

ISLAMABAD: The creation of National Executive Service (NES) once decided would end the future of two civil service groups - Secretariat Group and Office Management Group (OMG).

According to the government’s proposal under consideration for the creation of NES, while the terms and conditions of incumbents of the Secretariat Group would not be altered as they would be grandfathered, future recruitment to OMG and the Secretariat Group has to be discontinued for the following reasons:-

(1) Grade 17/18 section officers would no longer be required in the Federal Secretariat as the post of Deputy Secretary where the entry point would be equivalent to Grade 20.

(2) E-Governance, shared filing and tracking system, fully loaded websites containing all rules, regulations, circulars, office memoranda, notifications, all reference materials and data banks would render the post of Grade 17/18 redundant.

(3) As the posts of Staff Officers in Grade 18, 19 and 20 would be created to assist Deputy Secretaries, Joint Secretaries and Secretaries to promote horizontal rather than vertical hierarchy their job requirements would not fit in with those recruited as Section Officers.

The proposal, however, assures that the incumbents belonging to the OMG and SG would continue to have the same terms and conditions of service. That can compete for the NES cadre or selection for staff officers or appointed against the vacancies in the federal government. According to the proposal, the creation of NES is interlinked with decisions on a number of critical issues without which the present proposal will not be able to make the desired impact. It added, “There are at least three decisions for transition from the present system to the NES. These are:

(i) Introduction of e-government at the federal and provincial secretariats for all transactions – horizontal and vertical. Recruitment to Secretariat Group and the posts of Section Officers would be discontinued once e-government suite becomes fully operational.

(ii) The pay structure of the NES has to be delinked from the BPS and brought at par with MP-I, MP-II and MP-III. The incumbents can be given the choice to opt for the new scales or retain their grades along with their perks and facilities such as housing etc. A defined contribution scheme for NES officers will be introduced.

(iii) The redesigned Performance Evaluation Reporting System (PER) that is open, goal-oriented, development needs-based system is put in place. A new promotion policy that gives weightage to the PEs, training and skills acquired, breadth and depth of experience and evaluation by the Central Selection Board will have to be put in place.

(iv) In order to allay the concerns of the affected cadres that their existing share and the total number of posts in BPS 20, 21 and 22 will not be reduced, the cadre strengths and composition of each group should be updated. Necessary posts will be created in the federal and provincial government to maintain existing allocations.

(v) In order to create minimum dislocation in the working of the government, the incumbents of the federal and provincial secretariats in Grade 20-22 will be given the option to be absorbed in the NES. This one-time initial recruitment into NES on NES-I and NES-II will expedite the institutionalisation of NES. Applicants in BPS-20 and 21 that apply for NES-II in NES will be evaluated by the CSB and applicants in Grade-22 will be selected for NES-I by HPSB. This initial induction will only be on 50 percent of the seats i.e. 25 in NES-I and 150 in NES-II. Initial induction to NES-III on all seats will be done by FPSC through the proposed competitive process.

(vi) Future vacancies in the NES cadre would be filled in only through the proposed competitive examination process in NES-III.

(vii) In order to improve transparency in postings, an online system will be implemented by the Establishment Division that will solicit applications for vacant posts in the federal secretariat. A high-powered board will then decide on the postings.

Regarding the compensation package for the NES, the proposal says, “In order to make the NES attractive and at the same time keep the financial burden on the exchequer at a minimum possible level, the candidates at the first level (NES-III) must be given a monetised package of MP-III while the officers promoted as Joint Secretary (NES-II) should be given MP-II scale and Secretary (NES-I) MP-I scale. As the number of positions in the equivalent grade at the federal secretariat does not exceed 1,300 the financial implications of this salary package will be quite modest. Those selected for NES cadre would have their pensions frozen at the last salary drawn in their previous post. They would also not be entitled to any government housing.”