ISLAMABAD, March 29: Transgression of merit by the government has made the bureaucracy a disillusioned, discouraged and disappointed lot, said Federal Public Service Commission Chairman Lt-Gen (retired) Jamshed Gulzar Kiani on Wednesday.

He regretted that all the good work done by the Central Selection Board (CSB) in reviving the confidence of the bureaucracy had been lost.

Speaking at his last press conference in his office, he quoted top bureaucrats as having told him that they were being treated as “dogs” by the government.

Gen Kiani retires from his FPSC post prematurely on Thursday (March 30) after the government reduced his tenure by two-and-a-half years through a presidential ordinance last year.

Gen Kiani, one of the key characters in the 1999 military takeover, had challenged the ordinance in Lahore High Court. However, the court rejected his petition.

He vowed to fight it out in the Supreme Court.

The retired general alleged that favouritism, nepotism and power-based influences were abound in all institutions.

He said he had made it his principle in the office to oppose out-of-turn promotions and irregular extensions. “Today I feel proud that while in office I challenged transgression of merit and rules and did not become party to any such violation.”

The general, whose relations with the government became strained after he opposed certain promotions and extensions in contract including those of retired army officers, said he did not like to humiliate the government, but his conscience didn’t allow him to look the other way either.

Regarding the FPSC-government row, he said it had become a purely personal affair. “I had pleaded to President Musharraf in the most humble way not to drag FPSC into a controversy, but he conveniently ignored it.”

On the issue of vacancies of FPSC members that were not filled by the government, Gen Kiani said the situation had aggravated and today there is a backlog of 2,000 candidates for general recruitment.

“Vacancies are not being filled and ministries are crying hoarse, but FPSC feels helpless because of shortage of members,” he said and added that this time even the CSS interviews were conducted by smaller than usual panels.

At one time immediately after the promulgation of the ordinance reducing the term of members, when quite a few members retired all of a sudden he recalled the working of FPSC actually froze for sometime.

He also spoke of the reforms he undertook during his tenure specifically the reduction in overall time period of CSS cycle and general recruitment.

The general who also chaired the Central Selection Board said he streamlined the working of the CSB.