LAHORE: Punjab’s civil bureaucracy seems concerned at the conduct and priorities of Chief Secretary Zahid Akhtar Zaman for pandering to the province’s political bosses instead of prioritising the highest administrative office.

Mr Zaman has lately been spotted in a viral video escorting PML-N President Nawaz Sharif and Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz down the Geneva streets.

Though Ms Nawaz left for Geneva on Nov 7, Mr Zaman had proceeded to Europe on a 10-day ex-Pakistan leave from Nov 3.

After the video was shared, the civil administration officers expressed their dismay, saying that the sight in video did not match the stature of the chief secretary of the largest province of the country.

The bureaucrats have been discussing Mr Zaman’s conduct since he assumed the top administrative office in January last year – days after Mohsin Naqvi became the caretaker chief minister.

Dawn spoke to several bureaucrats who expressed reservations about the ‘unbecoming conduct’ of the CS and his routine absence from the office.

“He isn’t available even to his subordinates as he mostly spends the better part of his time at the chief minister’s office,” an administrative secretary said.

“Our requests for meetings to discuss administrative matters are mostly turned down because of his non-availability,” he told Dawn.

Another officer observed that the chief secretary would mostly remain at the CM office and was seen accompanying the chief minister at almost every event attended by Mohsin Naqvi and Maryam Nawaz.

In the absence of the CS, an officer in the Civil Secretariat said, the administrative secretaries were also rarely available in their offices.

The public is the most affected by the officers’ absence as those coming from different districts for the resolution of their complaints have to return without an audience with the chief secretary.

“Since the Punjab government has largely been shifted on the e-Filing and Office Automation System (e-FOAS), the chief secretary handles summaries and departmental requests online,” an officer in the CS office told Dawn.

Published in Dawn, November 12th, 2024