ISLAMABAD: At least 30 petitions have so far been filed with the Islamabad High Court (IHC) against recommendations for the promotion of bureaucrats by the Central Selection Board (CSB).

The recommendations of the CSB for promotion from BPS-20 to BPS-21 created unrest among officers who were superseded.

The superseded officers belonged to the Pakistan Administrative Service (PAS), Police Service of Pakistan (PSP), Pakistan Customs Services (PCS), Inland Revenue Service (IRS), Secretariat Group, Engineering Service of Pakistan Railways and Medical Group of Pakistan Railways.

Some of the officers claimed that they were denied the promotion not because of inefficiency but because they were in the negative list of the government.

Hence, they expressed serious reservations over the independence of the CSB.

Former inspector general of the Islamabad police Aftab Ahmed Cheema in his petition claimed that the reason for not considering him for the promotion was that he did not follow the government’s directions during last year’s political sit-ins and resisted the “interference of political big-shots.”

On Friday, Justice Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui of the IHC clubbed all the petitions and directed the counsel for the federal government to respond on May 28.

So far, 30 petitions have been filed with IHC by officers who were superseded by their juniors

The crux of the petitions was that there was no provision to supersede an officer who had already reached the requisite threshold. Placing five marks out of the 15 at the sole discretion of the members CSB and that too with an overriding effect to the marks on the Personal Evaluation Reports (PERs) was not justified.

A majority of the superseded officers claimed that they had been deprived of promotion because of the ‘controversial’ formula the government had adopted last year for the evaluation of civil servants.

A circular issued on February 10, 2014, placed 15 marks at the discretion of the CSB. Five marks meant for integrity/general reputation/perception have not been distributed accordingly.

Moreover, the five marks have been given overriding effect on the remaining 95 marks. It means that despite securing 95 per cent marks an officer cannot be promoted unless the board grants him/her at least three out of the five marks.

Likewise, as per the petitions, 10 marks cannot be given in contradiction to the entire evaluation of the officers which means nothing but to ignore the whole record of a candidate, including assessment on his integrity under the PERs.

A senior bureaucrat, who was among the superseded officers, told Dawn that the recommendations of the CSB were defective yet for another reason. He said the composition of the board was not in accordance with the regulations and instructions.

As per the rules, the board headed by the chairman Federal Public Service Commission (FPSC) comprises four chief secretaries and three politicians.

The politicians, according to the officer, were Rafiq Rajwana, Amir Haider Khan Hoti and Fateh Mohammad Hassani. “Mr Hassani was replaced by retired bureaucrat Ahmed Buksh Lehri, Mr Hoti did not attend the meetings while Mr Rajwana was busy as he was being made the governor of Punjab.” The officer said the members were not in attendance; some of them were equal to BS-21 and could not have considered the cases of the officers to the same grade.

When contacted, deputy attorney general Husnain Ibrahim Kazmi, who is dealing with the case in the IHC, said the government would submit its reply to the court on May 28.

An official of the federal government, however, said every year the superseded officers filed such petitions with the court. He said the promotion was not a matter of right but a prerogative of the government.

Published in Dawn, May 23rd, 2015

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