LAHORE: There is a move to give superior executive allowance to civil servants in the provincial civil secretariat and those serving against administrative posts in the field to make their jobs attractive in the absence of the Shahbaz Sharif government’s golden pay packages in public companies, projects and authorities discarded by the Supreme Court of Pakistan.

Official sources informed Dawn on Thursday that as per the idea [so far], superior executive allowance equivalent to 1.5 of the basic pay of all officers would be given if approved by the chief minister.

Some officials said it would be for officers of the provincial government in BS-17 and above serving in civil secretariat and against administrative posts in districts. And it would be 1.5 of the current basic pays of all of them.

Officials said the summary had been sent to the finance department for opinion a week ago or so and the chief secretary too had taken a briefing the other day.

It’s an incentive after SC did away with hefty packages in companies

They said during the last regime of Shahbaz Sharif the Punjab government lacked officers in the civil secretariat and in the field as they preferred to work in companies, projects and authorities for their unprecedented higher pay packages.

But these greener pastures became trouble spots after the Supreme Court rejected this pay package fashion, ordering the major beneficiaries, who included top bureaucrats, to return the money they had received as salaries.

Officials said the superior executive allowance, if allowed, would serve as a major attraction for the civil servants to work in government offices.

The Punjab government of Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi had given Rs30,000 as utility allowance to administrative secretaries in 2005. This facility is unlimited for the chief secretary, additional chief secretary, chairman P&D and senior member Board of Revenue if they live in official residences.

The previous Shahbaz Sharif government allowed this allowance also to officials in BS-1 to 16 and private secretaries in BS-17. Those in BS-17 to 19 were denied the facility.

The present rate for officials in BS-1 to 8 is Rs3,000 per month, in BS-9 to 14 Rs4,000 per month, and in BS-16 and 17 Rs7,000.

In addition to this, those serving in the civil secretariat are receiving 50 per cent of their basic pays as the secretariat allowance given by the previous government. Officials said the secretariat and the utility allowance would be merged in the executive allowance which still would be hefty.

“The secretariat allowance itself changed the trend to seek postings outside the civil secretariat, creating a dearth of staff here. Now, everyone wants to work in the secretariat for the allowance, creating a manpower shortage in the field. The post of managing director (small industries) is lying vacant as the officer picked from secretariat for it will lose 50 per cent of his or her basic pay (secretariat allowance). The new executive allowance would further discourage the desire to work on posts outside the secretariat or in the district administration,” a senior official said.

Published in Dawn, January 28th, 2019