LAHORE: Chief Secretary Akbar Durrani on Wednesday directed deputy commissioners to refrain from making public their objections (if any against any political interference in their work) and instead report such things to commissioners, and develop good relations with legislators.

“He asked the field officers not to put any such thing on social media or share it with media. Instead follow official chain of command, reporting any problems only to their seniors (commissioners),” the chief secretary told the deputy commissioners, said an official after the meeting.

All administrative secretaries were present in the meeting held in the Civil Secretariat in an emergency to address the issue of “revolt” of the field officers against alleged political interventions mainly by the legislators of the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf. All divisional commissioners and deputy commissioners attended it through video link.

They can report political interference to commissioners

Officials said the meeting was the first activity of the chief secretary as the government was alarmed at the field officers objections to the alleged intervention of politicians in their working and their leakage to public through social and mainstream media.

“It was an exercise to put out the fire (deputy commissioners objections) before it could envelop the adjacent buildings (before others start following suit),” remarked an official.

They said the chief secretary asked the field officers to work under the permissible limits of laws, and seek the guidance from their seniors (commissioners in the case of deputy commissioners) in case of any difficult situation instead of creating any scene.

An official handout said the chief secretary asked the officers to perform their duties in accordance with rules, keep pleasant relations with elected representatives, and seek guidance from their seniors if they face any difficulty.

He added that the role of the judiciary, legislature, executive and media was of significant importance in guiding people.

He said the Rawalpindi and Dera Ghazi Khan divisional commissioners had been asked to submit a fact-finding report on the letters of deputy commissioners of Chakwal and Rajanpur about political intervention in administrative matters.

He said all government officers worked diligently to achieve the fixed targets including holding of free, fair and transparent elections. “They should continue working with the same passion to implement the 100-day plan of the government,” he added.

He said law and order, improvement in health, education, environment sectors and municipal services were priorities of the government. The officers should work in tandem with legislators of their districts in order to achieve future targets, besides giving them representation in the committees working for well-being of people at district level.

He also asked the deputy commissioners to prepare for by-elections and adopt open door policy to resolve people’s problems.

Later, in another meeting in his office, the chief secretary ordered the secretary (environment) to prepare a comprehensive plan for capacity building of the environment department. He said there was a need to control environmental pollution. He directed that revised PC-1 for Environment Monitoring Centre should be submitted at the earliest and disciplinary action would be taken against the officers who committed negligence in this regard.

Published in Dawn, September 6th, 2018