LAHORE, April 24: The Punjab government is deliberating downgrade of all posts in the civil administration and police to ‘rationalise’ the grades of officials according to the nature of their jobs, especially in field posts.

Official sources told Dawn on Thursday that the provincial government was assessing each and every post in the province to rationalise the nature of job and the seniority of officers and the same exercise was being carried out in the police department.

The police higher-ups were reviewing their administrative structure and a final proposal by them would be assessed and approved by the provincial government, they said.

They also anticipated massive reshuffle in the police department in the next two days which, too, would be made to rationalise the seniority of officers and the nature of jobs.

So far as the provincial government was concerned, they said, it had already started the process by downgrading key posts like those of the principal secretary to the chief minister and staff officer to the chief secretary.

“We are now going to abolish the post of principal secretary finance, but the post of the special secretary finance will be retained,” they said.

Sources said the new government had been making changes everywhere in the civil administration, but it was still unable to streamline the administrative working at all tiers.

This was so because the administrative changes made under the devolution plan of the Musharraf regime had created a great mess in the country as posts were unnecessarily upgraded and senior officers appointed against field posts, where comparatively young ones were required to deliver.

This policy also unjustifiably increased the salary bill of the provincial government. Undue promotions made under this policy opened floodgates of premature promotions of officers to higher grades without letting them acquire knowledge of administration at junior posts, they explained.

“We have senior officers against active field posts who should have been engaged in policy-making and junior officers in offices where they lack expertise to handle policy issues,” they said.

Right now, they said, the province had so many BS-20 posts which could not be filled even if all the BS-19 officers were promoted. And these promotions would not benefit the province in any manner because the BS-19 officers lacked experience to handle the responsibilities the higher posts entail.

The officials said under the set rules of the government, promotions of officers from one grade to another were always made with a view to developing human resource for higher posts.

For that purpose, every officer was required to spend five years each in BS-17 and BS-19. But the tenure of the post of BS-18 (deputy secretary) was seven years to allow the officers to fully learn the basics of administration. But this policy was changed during the previous regime, sending officers to higher circles without having a grip over the basics.

Similarly, BS-19 officers would be posted as DCOs and SSPs to head civil and police administrations in districts. Those in BS-20 would be posted as commissioners and DIG ranges to give guidance to the young DCOs and SSPs. These officers would also be posted as secretaries and in the IGP office for policy-making and guidance.

The past regime, officials said, posted BS-21 and BS-20 civil and police officers in districts as additional IGs and DCOs. “Is it the job of the senior-most officers to conduct raids, control mob and supervise anti-encroachment campaigns. They are near retirement and we need their experience for guidance. One should not expect physical work from them which should be left to young officers,” sources said.

According to them, some senior-level posts too were created in districts and elsewhere without any cogent reason. There was no need for creating the post of the EDO (revenue) in districts because by doing this, the past government wasted 35 BS-19 officers who were just serving as appellate authority against the decisions of the DOs (revenue).

These posts should be abolished. There should be only one post of DO (revenue) and the appellate authority of the EDO (revenue) should be given to the DCO to bring the revenue system under his command. At present, complaints regarding the revenue system were being sent to the DCOs who had no authority over the EDOs.

Sources said the incumbent government required to reform the entire system objectively because it was introduced on an ad hoc basis, without allowing the provinces to assess its viability. The past regime used to set dates for the enforcement of the new administrative and police systems without paying any heed to the views of those directly involved with them.

“The reformation does not mean the revival of the defunct deputy commissioner office because the realities have changed. We have to be really careful in improving the existing form of governance,” sources said.