PESHAWAR: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Provincial Civil Service Officers Association on Tuesday asked Chief Minister Mahmood Khan to appoint chief secretary from amongst province service officers.

In a letter addressed to the chief minister, the association said that according to Article 240 of Constitution, postings against all provincial posts including chief secretary was the constitutional right of provincial service.

The letter asked the chief minister to transfer the chief secretary and use his powers regarding appointment of chief secretary. It said that appointment against the post of chief secretary was the right of the provincial services; therefore, a Provincial Management Service (PMS) officer should be posted to the position.

The letter said that Article 240 (B) of Constitution was regarding provincial posts and civil services under which KP Civil Servants Act, 1973 was enacted. It said that a provincial service had all the rights to appointment on all those posts including that of chief secretary.

It said that Pakistan Administrate Service was a federal service and formed under CSP Rules, 1954 and since those rules were not framed under any constitutional or legislative provision; those lacked legal and constitutional status.

“PAS was functioning without any legal instruction,” the letter said.

It said that since PAS was a federal service, therefore, its officials could not be posted against provincial services including the post of chief secretary. It said that federal officers could be posted under federal legislative list part I and II and All Pakistan Federal Legislative List part II.

The letter said that appointment of chief secretary by establishment division was extra constitutional. “Administrative federalism has been necessitated by the Constitution yet it has been violated by the successive governments,” a spokesperson for the association said.

He said that the civil service reforms must ensure administrative federalism as all such reforms would be an eyewash without it.

He said that PAS and Police Service of Pakistan as a cadre did not belong to the centre, rather the provinces. “The provincial civil servants may then manage the federal positions,” the official said.

Published in Dawn, August 19th, 2020