LAHORE: The All Pakistan Provincial Civil Services Association (APPCSA) officers from all four provinces have called for the reformation of civil services asserting that Prime Minister Imran Khan’s “vision of change” cannot be built on the 250-year-old colonial system.

“If Prime Minister Imran Khan, Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar as well as chief ministers of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Balochistan and Sindh rely on the status quo, the implementation of the slogan of change will remain a distant dream,” said APPCSA President Tariq Mahmood Awan.

The PMS officers from all the provinces have launched an all-Pakistan movement, ‘Justice and Governance’, to strive for applying the rule of law and Constitution to the civil services and restoration of local government system for smooth service delivery in the public interest.

The officers said the judiciary, legislature and political executive was reformed, but the bureaucracy (the implementation machine) was never reformed in line with the Constitution. The bureaucracy was still working on the lines of the 250-year-old East Indian colonial structure, they added.

Explaining the movement, the officers said it will begin with awareness correspondence followed by administrative engagements and legal notices to be served on the Establishment Division secretary and the chief secretaries of respective provinces, asking under what authority the operations of civil service were being carried out.

The association will also serve notices on all officers of PAS/DMG posted on provincial posts with respect to their recruitment, trainings, appointments, and their placements, including chief secretaries. The notices will also be served on all authorities responsible for the recruitments, trainings, appointments, placement, promotions and retirements of the PAS officers on provincial posts.

If the illegalities are not removed, the association will approach the provincial high courts and the Supreme Court. It will also approach lawmakers to ensure administrative federalism.

For the constitutional, legal and administrative redressal, the Provincial Management Service (PMS) officers demanded that all rules of provincial civil services be declared void to the extent of their derogation with the Constitution and laws of the provinces and recruitments of the PAS officers stopped. They also demanded that any reforms in civil services of Pakistan be undertaken under the Constitution.

They demand the PMS officers be recruited, appointed, posted, promoted and retire on 2,000 provincial posts illegally grabbed by officers of PAS/DMG. The APPCSA demanded the prime minister through the Establishment Division secretary withdraw all officers of PAS/DMG from all the provincial positions for adjusting them for their further promotions, placement, and retirements as per the Constitution and law.

The association demanded the political executive concerned should order an inquiry into the “fraud” carried out so far in running the civil administration of the provinces. The association has urged the prime minister and chief ministers to personally thrash out the process of civil service reforms being carried out under Dr Ishrat Husain.

Published in Dawn, September 24th, 2020