LAHORE: The Association of Administrative Federalism (AOAF) has written a letter to the Punjab chief minister objecting to the posting of Pakistan Administrative Service (PAS) officers in the provinces, claiming that they should function only in matters listed under the Federal Legislative List (part I) of the Constitution.

AOAF chairman Tariq Mahmood Awan, a PMS officer, has been campaigning against the posting of PAS officers and particularly the posting of the chief secretary by the federal government, arguing that it makes the federal constitutional structure effectively centralised.

Mr. Awan, who was recently made an OSD once again, says the 18th Amendment clearly separated the legislative, executive, and financial authority of the federation and the provinces. He maintains that any encroachment compromises the spirit and structure of the constitution itself.

In his representation, Mr. Awan has called upon the CM to imagine a supposition: if an MNA became a CM, a senior minister, or even the speaker of a provincial assembly – how would that appear in a federal parliamentary Pakistan? In the same way, he asked, how could federal PAS officers be posted in the provinces when the executive branch of the government – both political and bureaucratic – must share the same institutional DNA and originate from the same legislature, the provincial assembly?

“When the provincial assembly elects the chief minister, but the chief secretary is appointed by the federal government, does it not make our federal constitutional structure effectively unitary — at least in the executive branch of the government?” he asked.

He urged the CM to ask the S&GAD and the Establishment Division, Islamabad, under what provision of law PAS officers were posted in the provinces, when the constitutional framework was explicit.

He also stated that the AOAF was a registered organisation representing over 3,000 provincial civil servants, committed to implementing administrative federalism within the civil services structure.

Published in Dawn, October 7th, 2025