LAHORE, May 13: The Punjab government is going to approach the federal government for including Chief Secretary Javed Mehmood in the Central Selection Board on the plea that it was legally necessary for representing province's official view on the promotion of officers from BS-20 to 21.

The board is scheduled to meet on May 15, according to officials.

The chief secretary has not been dropped from the selection board in any malafide but under a policy which was also made six months ago and not by the present federal government, a senior official said here on Tuesday.

According to media reports the chief secretary has not been invited to the board meeting, and has been replaced by former chief secretary and presently Kashmir Affairs Secretary Salman Siddique.

The official said Mr Siddique was included in the board as member not in place of the chief secretary but because of the reason that he was from Punjab and could give opinion on the promotion of officers.

He said under the policy formed in 1997 all chief secretaries were to represent their provinces in the board meetings so as to give their opinion about promotions, and the requirement of their governments.

But around six months ago, it was decided that only BS-22 chief secretaries would attend the meetings of the board.

The official said under the policy the board had held two meetings. Therefore, stopping the present Punjab chief secretary from attending the next meeting was not a conspiracy hatched to undermine his position.

He said not only Mr Mehmood but also Balochistan Chief Secretary Nasir Khosa had not been invited to the meeting because he too was a BS-21 officer. Only the chief secretaries of Sindh and the NWFP were going to represent their provinces in the board meeting because they were in BS-22.

The official says the policy is wrong as in the civil administration the post matters and not the grades. The decision was made with a clerical mindset, he says.

The official clarified that Mr Siddique was not been asked to represent Punjab in place of the chief secretary. In fact, the federal government included four BS-22 federal secretaries belonging to all provinces for their opinion on the promotions. Their selection was made in addition to all chief secretaries and not in place of them.

The other officers included in the board are: Planning and Development Secretary Suhail Safdar (Sindh), Narcotics Secretary KB Rind (Balochistan) and Commerce Secretary Asif Shah (NWFP).

The official, however, contested the selection of the officers saying despite their knowledge of the provincial bureaucracy they could not represent the provincial governments in any manner.

It was the prerogative of the chief secretaries to represent their governments because they could only plead the case of their provinces, and explain their policy regarding the requirement and absorption of BS-21 officers.

“We do not object to the presence of senior officials in the board but the federal government would have to invite all chief secretaries for the selection,” the official said.