ISLAMABAD, May 2: As the budget-making exercise enters a crucial stage, the government has decided to constitute a 21-member planning and development policy board headed by the prime minister to enhance the role of the Planning Commission in formulating a long-term policy for development and economic growth.
The government has also decided that the prime minister would be chairman of the Planning Commission from now onwards instead of the finance minister, reveals official documents available with Dawn.
These decisions have been taken to restructure, revamp and strengthen the Planning Commission’s capacity to meet country’s future planning and development needs.
The commission is currently in a bad shape due to retirement of about 70 per cent of its section heads, as no recruitments could take place in the country’s planning agency during the last 30 years.
Historically, the finance minister used to be the chairman of the planning and development division as it was part of the finance ministry. The deputy chairman of the Planning Commission used to be its functional head, while its secretary performed the role of principal accounting officer.
Now, the Planning Commission would be separated from the finance ministry and would be headed by the prime minister.
Under the prime minister, a full-time policy board, again headed by the prime minister, would work as a policy-making forum and the deputy chairman would perform his duties under this board.
Under the decision, the number of Planning Commission members has also been enhanced to nine instead of three members and all of them would be given special MP-1 (management post) grades. In the past, there were only three members for infrastructure, production and management and social sectors.
The full-time members would be appointed for infrastructure, energy, science and technology, food and agriculture, social sector, implementation and monitoring, besides member coordination, director Pakistan Institute of Development Economics (PIDE) and chief economist.
Even before the notification of restructuring, three members have already been inducted in the Planning Commission without any selection process. They include: Dr Asad Ali Shah, a relative of Dr Salman Shah, adviser to the prime minister on finance; Dr S.H. Khan, a former official of the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission; and Dr Kokab.
All these members would be assisted by nine respective task forces on each sector to recommend sectoral policy initiatives. The members would then act as think-tanks to take up policy measures with the policy board for approval and implementation.
The prime minister would also be the chairman of a newly-created policy board of the Planning Commission. The board will comprise 20 members, including 10 ministers and nine full-time members, besides deputy chairman of the Planning Commission.
Sources said the decision to revamp the Planning Commission had been taken due to deteriorating capacity of various wings of the commission. They said almost 70 per cent of these wings have lost their top-tier officers, commonly known as chief and deputy chiefs, due to retirement as no direct recruitments through the normal selection process of the Public Service Commission could be made during the last 30 years.
The number of chiefs and deputy chiefs has already declined from about 80 to 24 during the last few years. The existing operational role of the Planning Commission that includes formulation of annual plan and preparation for the Public Sector Development Programme and its implementation and monitoring would continue to be performed by the existing planning and development division.
The restructured Planning Commission would now assist in defining the national vision and undertaking strategic planning, assessing material, capital and human resources of the country, formulating proposals for augmenting such resources and building capacity of the agencies involved in the development process.
