ISLAMABAD: A high-level committee headed by the chairperson of the Federal Public Service Commission (FPSC) on Monday scrutinised the cases of ‘forced’ retirement of senior bureaucrats of BS-20 to BS-22.

The officers being considered for retirement included six officers of BS-22, seven of BS-21 of the Pakistan Administrative Service (PAS), two officers of BS-21 and eight officers of the Police Service of Pakistan, including former CCPO Lahore Umer Sheikh, and other civil service cadres.

The panel of the Secretariat Group of BS-22 for “Directory Retirement Board” included Aamer Hasan, Dr Imran Zeb Khan, Mohammad Hashim Popalzai, Mohammad Naeem, Pervaiz Ahmed Junejo and Noor Ahmed.

In January, Civil Servants (Directory Retirement from Service) Rules, 2020, were issued to get rid of incompetent officers

Sources said that the committee comprising the FPSC chairperson, secretaries of Establishment Division, Cabinet Division, finance, law and justice and an additional secretary of Establishment Division did not deliberate on the names of BS-22 offices, observing that their mandate was to consider the cases of forced retirement of up to BS-21 officers.

The government had in January annou­nced Civil Servants (Directory Reti­re­ment from Service) Rules, 2020, to get rid of incompetent officers.

The rules provide grounds for directory (forced) retirement that included adverse remarks in three personal evaluation reports (PERs) or three average PERs, being twice superseded for promotion to BS-21 or below or not being recommended for BS-22 and having opted for plea bargain or voluntary return.

In the past, the Removal of Service Ordinance did not provide due course and the sacked officials approached courts against their termination, saying they were not given the opportunity of hearing.

According to a senior bureaucrat, the Civil Servants (Directory Retirement from Service) Rules, 2020, had laid down due course to remove incompetent officers.

The PAS officers of BS-21 under scrutiny of the retirement board included Qaiser Majeed Malik, Ahmed Hanif, Ghulamuddin Bhalo, Shamsuddin, Abid Hussain, Tauqir Hussain Shah and Saeed Ahmed Nawaz.

Two PSP officers retired Capt Zafar Iqbal and Syed Imtiaz Altaf, besides eight officers of the same cadre namely Dr Mohammad Azam Khan, Azhar Rasheed Khan, Ahmed Ashfaq Jahangir, Mohammad Umer Sheikh, retired Capt Feroze Shah, Dr Mazharul Haq Kakakhel, Awal Khan and Mujahid Akbar Khan are in the panel for the retirement board.

BS-21 officer of the Audit and Accounts Group Shahid Gul Qureshi is also being considered for directory retirement.

The BS-20 officers of the Secretariat Group included Waqar Khetran, Dr Waseem Ahmed, Ijaz Memon and Azra Jamali.

In addition to the downgraded PER, the other grounds for directory retirement included twice supersession by the Central Selection Board (CSB), Departmental Selection Board (DSB) or Departmental Promotion Committee (DPC), as the case may be, or twice not recommended for promotion by the High Powered Selection Board (HPSB).

An officer found guilty of corruption or has entered into plea bargain or voluntary return with the National Accountability Bureau or any other investigation agency, or placed in category “C” by the promotion board, will be sent home through retirement rules.

The retirement board will continue its meeting to decide cases of forced retirement on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, the Establishment Division on Monday notified Engineer Maqsood Anwar Khan as Member of the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) under Cabinet Division. He will represent Khyber Pakhtunkhwa for a period of four years, the notification said.

Published in Dawn, April 20th, 2021