LAHORE: The Punjab government, in a major administrative overhaul, has scrapped 101 posts of section officers across 40 departments and converted them into additional assistant commissioner (AAC) positions.

The decision, including 15 posts in the south Punjab Secretariat, has triggered alarm and left the Provincial Management Service reeling, with officers warning it will further choke already limited promotion avenues and relegate the PMS officers to lower-grade assignments.

In a letter addressed to the finance secretary, the S&GAD (Admin wing) has informed that the chief minister (competent authority) has decided that “101 new posts of additional assistant commissioners (BS-17) in the subdivisions of different districts may be created under the administrative control of S&GAD in lieu of abolition of vacant posts of section officer (BS-17) in several administrative departments as well as south Punjab Secretariat”.

The S&GAD says the cost statements of proposed posts to be created have been prepared and made available.

PMS cadre says move will stymie promotion prospects; step is said to be revival of extra assistant commissioner set-up

Further, the S&GAD secretary requested the finance secretary to create 101 new posts of additional assistant commissioner (BS-17) in different districts under the administrative control of the services department; in lieu of abolition of 101 vacant posts of section officers (BS-17) in different administrative departments and south Punjab secretariat.

The letter says that “the AAC posts will be filled from the cadre of PAS/PMS (BS-17), borne at the strength of S&GAD”. The expenditure involved will be met from the existing budgetary allocation during the current financial year 2026-27, the letter adds.

A list of proposed vacant posts of section officers, to be abolished, explains 57 posts in 25 administrative departments under the control of the civil secretariat in Lahore; and 42 posts in 15 administrative departments under the control of the south Punjab civil secretariat.

Similarly, the S&GAD has also identified 101 tehsils in different districts across the province for the creation of AAC posts.

The PMS officers association, however, terms the administrative move “a malafide attempt” without taking the provincial management service cadre into confidence as they form 80 per cent of the governance machinery in Punjab.

Speaking to Dawn, PMS Association President Qamar Zaman Qaiserani said the senior PAS group bureaucrats were taking one-sided decisions and keeping the chief minister in dark about ground realities, which are sidelining the provincial management service officers. He said the 1,200 PMS officers in the province were already facing discrimination and “structurally locked out” of key decision-making posts despite making 80pc of the administrative set-up in the province.

Stating that most PMS officers were already stuck in BS-17 posts for over a decade, he said, the PMS officers would further be pushed back as additional assistant commissioners (AAS) and their promotion prospects become extremely bleak. “The PAS officers hoodwink the chief minister by telling that the PAS officers will also be posted as AAS and do post some officers, but for a very shorter period of time. The bulk of officers posted against the newly-created AAS posts will eventually be from the PMS cadre,” Mr Qaiserani asserted.

He also argued that the 101 AAS posts were not being created but being redesignated against the section officers’ posts by all practical means and added that the civil secretariat work would eventually suffer.He said the association had plans to meet the newly-posted additional chief secretary and the secretary (services) and explain their concerns and reservations.

Meanwhile, a senior official in the provincial administration said the move effectively marked the revival of the extra assistant commissioner (EAC) system that existed in Punjab’s tehsils before the local government reforms introduced in 2001.

“The government is reviving the old EAC system, although the designation has now been changed to additional assistant commissioner,” the official said, adding that the officers would perform field administrative functions similar to those previously assigned to EACs, including price control, revenue-related responsibilities and assisting in law and order.

The official said every tehsil was expected to have an AAC, who would function in a role comparable to that of a city magistrate.

He said the move was also intended to address a shortage of field assignments for the increasing number of PAS and PMS officers. “The government now has more PAS and PMS officers than available field posts. These new positions will provide meaningful assignments while strengthening service delivery at the tehsil level,” he said.

The official maintained that district administrations had become overburdened by the growing volume of public complaints and the additional officers would help improve coordination, expedite public service delivery and reduce the workload on DCs and ACs.

Newly-posted Secretary (Services) Muhammad Jahanzeb, however, could not be reached.

(Imran Gabol also contributed to this report)

Published in Dawn, August 2nd, 2026