LAHORE: Former chief secretaries have said that the bureaucracy in earlier times delivered with confidence and without any hindrance because it was provided conducive working environment.

The former chief secretaries met here with former Khyber Pakhtunkhwa chief secretary Azam Khan in the backdrop of Prime Minister Imran Khan’s views on the quality and calibre of the civil servants of the 1960s when, he had said, phenomenal economic and physical infrastructure development took place through the civil servants.

The participants were of the view that with the passage of time and following successive administrative reforms, things were not the same anymore. Among other things, the criterion of selecting the “Right Officer for the Right Job” has changed, the meeting maintained.

Nevertheless, the former chief secretaries said, the officers of Pakistan Administrative Service (PAS) were still delivering despite the odds such as unfavourable field conditions and interference by various pressure or interest groups.

Since the PTI government took over, Prime Minister Khan’s assertion that he would not spare any corrupt person had made the bureaucracy too cautious while taking any decision that involved big money. The prime minister since then has thrice met the bureaucracy in Lahore and Islamabad, but its confidence was still shaky.

The former bureaucrats emphasised that reforms should provide some incentives to the officers for efficient service delivery. They stressed that the principles of equity and justice ought to be upheld while making any intervention in public interest. They appreciated the prime minister’s initiative for bringing about much-needed changes to service structure, career progression, capacity building and improving the standards of efficiency and professionalism of the civil servants.

Discussing the recently announced Civil Service Reforms, the meeting took note of some of the provisions. On rationalising the cadre strength/number of posts of PAS in the provinces, the meeting was of the view that it was a settled issue, as the federal and provincial governments had worked out the formula of sharing of the field posts back in 1954 and there was no impelling need to revisit it now. Besides, the meeting said, reduction of posts (600) in the provinces would likely cause dissatisfaction among the junior officers, who would be denied their professional requirement of orientation of socio-economic and other issues.

Thus, there could be some “disconnect” between the practical experience of the officers in identifying issues on ground and their resolution through policy intervention. The meeting urged the government to re-examine the issue to avoid serious ramifications in the area of administrative management.

The meeting also deliberated on the issue of induction of technocrats in the PAS cadre. It was recommended that no “lateral entry” of other professionals or technical experts be made as it would disturb the structure, seniority and promotion prospects of officers belonging to one unified cadre, who were inducted through a highly competitive merit-based system.

Published in Dawn, February 27th, 2020