ISLAMABAD: The long-awaited process to weed out deadwood from the civil bureaucracy is under way following a directive from the Prime Minister’s Office to implement the announced policy.
A close aide to Prime Minister Imran Khan told The News that the PM Office has already issued a directive to all ministries and divisions to start the weeding out process. The source said that ministries and divisions were asked to constitute Retirement Boards and Retirement Committees as provided under the rules and start processing the cases as per the law on the basis of material evidence.
It is said that a recent IHC judgment against those who had challenged the promotion rules, has also helped further the process of the early retirement of non-performing civil servants.
All the codal formalities have already been completed by the PTI government to carry out this much-needed task. With the legal framework in place, those who have completed 20 years of service and are not suitable to continue in government service will be prematurely retired, for which instructions to all ministries, divisions and other government agencies have been issued by the Prime Minister’s Office.
Grounds for early retirement have already been notified and these include officers who:
a) have received average performance evaluation reports (PERs, formerly known as ACR) or adverse remarks have been recorded in three or more PERs from three different officers;
b) have been twice recommended for supersession by the Central Selection Board (CSB), Departmental Selection Board (DSB) or Departmental Promotion Board (DPB) or have been twice not recommended for promotion by the high powered Selection Board and such recommendations have been approved by the competent authority;
c) have been found guilty of corruption or have entered into a plea bargain or voluntary return with NAB or any other investigating agency;
d) have on more than one occasion been placed in category ‘C’ by the CSB, DSB or DPC under the Civil Servants Promotion (BS 18-21) Rules, 2019;
e) have been guilty of conduct unbecoming.
The retirement board and retirement committee have already been notified. For premature retirement of BS 20 officers and above, there will be a retirement board consisting of the Chairman FPSC, who will be the head of the body, while its members will be secretaries of the Cabinet Division, Establishment Division, Finance Division, Law and Justice Division and Secretary/head of the division concerned.
For the premature retirement of BS 19 and below officials, the government has set up retirement committees. There shall be various retirement committees in each division or department to recommend to the competent authority directory retirement from service in respect of civil servants in BS 19 and below.
The retirement committee for BS 17 to 19 officers will consist of a chairman, who will be an additional secretary or senior joint secretary of the division concerned; representatives of the Establishment Division, Finance Division, Law Division and head of the department or officer concerned.
The retirement committee for civil servants in BS 16 and below will consist of the chairperson, who will be a senior joint secretary or joint secretary of the division concerned, representatives of the Establishment Division, Finance Division, Law Division, and head of the department/office concerned.
For the purpose of implementing this new scheme, all the federal ministries and divisions have been directed to maintain a list of civil servants who have completed a specified length of service and fall in the category of those fulfilling the grounds for retirement.
These boards and committees will forward their recommendations to the competent authority. If the competent authority agrees with the recommendations for directory retirement of a civil servant, it will issue a show cause notice to the civil servant concerned, informing him of the grounds on which it is proposed to make the direction for directory retirement, and shall provide him the opportunity of a personal hearing if so requested by the civil servant concerned.
