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ISLAMABAD, Sept 9: The ministry of information and media development has challenged the revised promotion policy of senior civil servants claiming that its approval was obtained from the president without a proper consultative process.
Dawn has learnt that around 207 officials of the information group have been blocked from promotion. On the issue, the ministry had written to the president and the secretaries of the cabinet and establishment divisions.
Under the revised promotion policy approved by the chief executive and the federal cabinet officers who had not completed six years of active service in grade 20 could not be promoted to grade 21 and same goes with the promotion of other officers.
In a protest letter, secretary information, Syed Anwar Mahmood has demanded “that the new eligibility condition may please be held in abeyance until establishment division has completed the consultative process involving the other ministries and divisions in accordance with the Rules of Business, 1973”.
The secretary said any change in the promotion criteria required prior consultations with the ministries and divisions administering the other occupational groups as laid down in Rule- 8 of the Rules of Business 1973, but “unfortunately this was not done”.
RULES 8 STATES: “When the subject of a case concerns more than one division, the division in charge shall be responsible for consulting other division concerned and no orders shall issue, not shall the case be submitted to the cabinet or the prime minister, until it has been considered by all the divisions concerned, and their views obtained,” quoted the secretary.
He complained that previous rules have been radically modified by the insertion of the clause “not having six years active service in a BS-20 post excluding the period spent on training or leave or as OSD or as awaiting posting”.
He said this new condition further reinforces the promotion blockade faced by 207 officers in the information group controlled by the ministry of information. The cadre has only two BS-21 posts and eight BS-20 posts which remain blocked for many years and by that the officers who are otherwise eligible for promotion, continue to languish in junior positions for no fault of their own, he said.
Sources in the information ministry said establishment division had processed promotion cases of many occupational groups recently but none of the information group could be considered because of the new condition.
The information secretary did not respond when contacted by Dawn for comments.
