LAHORE: After abolishing 128 BS-17 posts of section officers, the Punjab government is now pushing its administrative departments to rebuild their workforce by inducting specialists in the fields of law, finance, IT, artificial intelligence (AI) and data analysis, instead of stuffing the ranks with traditional bureaucrats.

In a directive to all departments, Punjab Additional Chief Secretary (ACS) Iftikhar Ali Sahoo stated the government was taking a number of initiatives related to e-Filing and Office Automation System (e-FOAS) and Human Resource Management Information System (HRMIS), besides introducing changes in the functioning of the Civil Secretariat and had “substantially reduced” reliance on the old section officer-centric structure there.

In order to equip the human resource in the administrative departments and the attached departments/formations with the emerging skill sets, the ACS has asked all the departments to identify gaps and engage short-term consultants under the Punjab Procurement Rules to augment staff’s professional capacity in specialised fields, including legal advisory, financial management, investment facilitation, strategic communication, data analysis and artificial intelligence.

Directing the finance department to facilitate the transition, with costs to be charged to the head for “Payments to Others for Services Rendered”, the ACS asked all the administrative departments to accordingly reorient their human resource requirements towards these emerging skill sets and, wherever required, engage suitably qualified professionals /consultants on a short-term consultancy basis, in accordance with Rule 46 and Rule 46-A of the Punjab Procurement Rules, 2014.

Published in Dawn, September 10th, 2026