LAHORE, Sept 15: Provinces have reservations about the entry level for the proposed National Executive Service (NES) which has been mooted by the National Reconstruction Bureau to replace the district management service, federal service, provincial executive service and the independent district service.

The NRB had presented the proposal at a meeting in Islamabad last month. The president who chaired the meeting had also given some recommendations on the subject.

After sending the proposal to all the provincial governments for comments, the NRB invited their representatives to Islamabad to discuss it in a series of meetings last week.

According to officials who attended the meetings, the plan sent to the provinces was vague and, therefore, all the provincial representatives expressed their inability to speak on it.

They (the representatives) asked the NRB to give full details of the proposed structure containing the national executive service so that they could give their opinion.

The officials said the NRB was expected to send the detailed restructuring plan on Monday (today) which would be examined by the provinces thoroughly.

Those who attended the last week meetings questioned the entry level for the NES for which the NRB wanted selection from amongst BS-18 and 19 federal and provincial government officers with10 to 13 years of service and executives of the private sector having similar experience.

They said there was no representative of police in the meetings and, therefore, the NRB plan to make the police service of Pakistan a provincial subject was not discussed.

A senior police officer said the NRB had not sent the documents of the proposed service structure to the police department.

Some senior officers said for the regulation duty the government required an elite force in which induction should be made at the lower level.

The induction (in NES) of officers who have spent 10 to 13 years in other fields would not provide it a sound basis.

According to them, those who have groomed in different environment like customs, income tax and accounts would carry their culture to the elite service and try to run it in their own style.

They would lack the relevant regulation experience for the coveted job, they thought. Citing the DMG practice, they said junior officers were inducted at the lower level to train them for higher and strategic posts.

The real DMG service started from the post of the deputy commissioner and those serving below as assistant commissioners were considered trainees, they said.

The officers feared that the talented young people who used to aspire to become DMG officers through the competition examination would not wait for 10 to 13 years to get into the proposed elite service.

They said a majority of those selected for the DMG service in the recent past were foreign qualified and not mere BAs or MAs from Pakistani universities.

They had job opportunities abroad but they returned to Pakistan for the DMG service.

In England, they said, the only elite service was the diplomatic service for which selection was made from amongst the best young and highly qualified people. “These people are inducted into the service at the lower level and trained and groomed for years to serve as ambassadors and high commissioners. And this system has its own raison d’etre,” they said.