ISLAMABAD: The Senate Standing Committee on Cabinet Secretariat on Tuesday directed the Establishment Division to provide records of government officials the Central Selection Board (CSB) passed over for promotions in the last two years, along with the reasons they were ignored.

The committee also alleged that most of the officials promoted by the board will retire after 2023, and the cases of those who will retire before 2023 were deferred.

The first point on the meeting’s agenda was the consideration of deferred cases of various officials from different cadres considered by the CSB.

Upto 900 government officials have suffered because of the policy adopted for promotions through the CSB, under which officials need to receive three or more points (out of five) for ‘integrity’ from the board in order to be considered for a promotion.

Reasons sought for why candidates were ignored for promotions after receiving low ‘integrity’ marks

Some officials went to court against this policy, and received a ruling in their favour. The matter then reached a high court double bench and eventually, the policy was declared to be against the rules by the Supreme Court. However, a detailed decision by the court has yet to come.

At the start of the meeting, Establishment Division Additional Secretary Amir Ashraf Khawaja said the matter should not be discussed as it is sub judice. He added that the establishment secretary, who was not present on Tuesday, wanted to explain the matter himself.

However, Senator Kalsoom Parveen said the matter could not be considered sub judice since a decision in the matter had been announced.

Explaining the matter to other committee members, Ms Parveen said that in CSB meetings in 2015 and 2016, candidates for promotions received up to five points for ‘integrity’ and the cases of those who received below three points were deferred.

“Although a single and double bench of the high court declared [the policy] illegal, no one bothered to implement the court decision. Now, the SC has also declared the policy unfair,” she said.

“There were cases in which candidates received the highest marks out of 95 but their cases were deferred because they did not get three marks for integrity. A number of officers were also made [officer on special duty] to promote their juniors,” she claimed.

She added that the prime minister did not have time to look into these sorts of issues, because of which some officials in the Prime Minister’s Office made decisions of their choosing, and 900 officials were suffering because of them.

Committee chairman Talha Mehmood said the committee should be provided all the details, adding that the five points for ‘integrity’ were used to promote officials of choice.

“In some cases officers scored 80 out of 95 points but were ignored because of marks for integrity. On the other hand, officials who obtained 60 points were promoted by giving them three marks for integrity,” he said.

Mr Mehmood said the CSB and Establishment Division believed that officials secured good marks through annual confidential reports (ACR), and so only officials with a good reputation should be promoted.

“However, I have observed that the majority of officials who were promoted will retire after 2023. Moreover, the batch-mates of people sitting in the PM Office were promoted. Some officials who returned sums they earned through corruption were even promoted,” Mr Mehmood said.

He said that he had observed that in 2015, the CSB gave each official 1.5 minutes for an interview, which showed that a number of candidates were promoted without much discussion.

In response to a question from Mr Mehmood, Mr Khawaja said the prime minister had not accepted around 90 recommendations from the CSB, adding that the SC’s detailed order would be implemented fully.

The committee directed the Establishment Division to provide it with the records of all the officials who were ignored for promotions, as well as the reasoning.

Senator Shahi Syed was the lone committee member who spoke in favour of the ‘integrity’ points during the meeting, claiming it was the only criteria that would ensure that officials with a good reputation were being promoted.

“Here, corrupt people get good ACRs because they give a share from corruption to their bosses and in return they get excellent ACRs. If the CSB makes a biased decision, action should be taken against it, but the five marks for integrity should not be removed,” he argued.

However, Ms Parveen said the marks were misused and the prime minister did not have time to look into such issues, to which Mr Syed said the prime minister should look into the matter because he is an elected representative and is expected to perform.

The committee chair intervened shortly after and stopped any further discussion between them on the matter.

Published in Dawn, March 29th, 2017