LAHORE, Jan 28: Large-scale erratic postings (involving senior posts given to junior officers and vice versa) and appointments on contractual terms by the Punjab government diminish career prospects for the mid-career civil bureaucracy in Punjab which is also not happy with the recent cut in the number of their posts in the name of austerity.

According to a study conducted by Dawn, mid-career officers of the district management group (DMG) and the provincial services are deeply disturbed by reduction of their posts of BS-17 to 21. Many of them said the government could have saved billions through abolishing all contract appointments.

“Besides contract appointments, erratic postings block the promotion prospects of many officers denying them their right to serve at places matching their grades and rank,” a senior official said on the condition of anonymity.

The facts and figures obtained by Dawn provide only a hint of the provincial government’s plan to maintain a parallel force on a contract basis for jobs which its stream of sidelined officials can perform without any extra burden on its finances.

As reported earlier by Dawn, there is one post of BS-22 in Punjab which is of the chief secretary. But four more DMG BS-22 officers are staying here against BS-21 posts, who are Additional Chief Secretary Sami Saeed, Senior Member Board of Revenue Akhlaq Tarar, Planning and Development Chairman Javaid Aslam and former chief secretary Javed Mehmood.

Fifteen BS-21 officers are serving as administrative secretaries whereas there are only five sanctioned posts for such officers in the province. Seven of the 15 were recently promoted to BS-21. Six of them are being kept in Punjab despite the non-availability of seats while the seventh officer, Tahir Raza Naqvi, has himself opted to go to Islamabad. The posting of these officers against BS-20 posts has created unrest among the officers of the grade. These BS-21 secretaries include: Arif Nadeem (agriculture), Khalid Pervaiz (cooperatives), Haseeb Athar (higher education), Sajjad Salim Hotiana (environment), Tariq Bajwa (finance), Shahid Khan (home), Mirza Sohail Amir (housing), Arshad bin Ahmad (minorities), Abdur Rauf Khan (labour), Khyzer Hayat Gondal (local government), Rashida Malik (MPDD), Farkhanda Wasim Afzal (ombudsman’s secretary), Nahid Rizvi (archives), Karim Bakhsh Abid (zakat) and Saeed Alvi (Tevta).

Two more BS-20 posts of secretaries of prosecution and law are being occupied by former Sindh inspector genera Rana Maqbool Ahmad, a retired PSP officer, and Dr Abul Hasan Najmi, a retired judicial officer who later served as Punjab Assembly secretary. They are working on contract basis in the presence of several BS-20 serving officials.

Chief Minister’s Secretary Dr Tauqir, Auqaf Secretary Tariq Pasha, Health Secretary Fawad Hasan Fawad, P&D Secretary Ali Tahir and Tourism Secretary Ashraf Khwaja are BS-19 officers but hold BS-20 posts. Tariq Pasha belongs to the income tax service and his posting is appeared to be most pinching for the DMG or provincial service officers who are not being appointed as secretaries despite being in BS-20.

The posts of special secretaries are for BS-20 officers but are being held by those in BS-19. They include Farhan Khwaja (agriculture marketing), Naveed Alauddin (finance), Wasim Mukhtar (health), and Shaukat Ali (home).

Those opposing such erratic postings say that that the presence of senior officers over and above their grade strength was blocking the promotion prospects of those juniors to them. They must go to Islamabad to allow posting of the existing BS-20 officers as secretaries or promotion of BS-19 officers to the next higher grade.

The posting of junior officers against BS-20 posts too was an injustice with the officers of DMG and provincial services because this denied them right to get the mid-career experience of service vital for ably holding the policy making posts in higher grades.

The list of those appointed on a contract basis is long. The office of the ombudsman, created for controlling maladministration in Punjab, is reportedly having 25 consultants or special advisers.

The Punjab Service Tribunal and the Punjab Public Service Commission must have half members from amongst the serving officials of the provincial government reportedly under the law. But all their members are on contract basis.

The members of the Punjab Service Tribunal are: Syed Muhammad Hamid Shah, Riaz Chaudhry, Zafar Iqbal, Talat Mehmood Tariq, Ayub Malik and Rai Ejaz Ali Malik.

The 16 members of the Punjab Public Service Commission include retired DMG officers and almost all the IGS who have retired from service in the past few years. They include Shaukat Javaid, Pervaiz Rathor, Ahmad Nasim, Azhar Hasan Nadeem, Fayyaz Bashir, Safdar Javaid Syed, Ziaur Rehman, Iftikhar Ahmad, Ghiyasuddin and Humayun Farshori.

A former DMG senior officer, Tariq Ayub, is working as director general of the Punjab Institute of Languages and Culture on contractual terms.

Those objecting to their appointment say that they are not only occupying their posts, but also the sprawling government residences which should be given to those in service.