LAHORE, Jan 21: A cabinet committee headed by Sardar Zulfiqar Khosa on Friday approved abolition of ‘unnecessary’ 67 senior posts in the police department and four of the EDOs in each district government.

The proposals are a part of the reforms agenda of the provincial government and their approval by the cabinet committee is being considered a major step towards winding up the administrative system introduced by the Musharraf regime in the name of devolution of power.

Sources said the committee comprising Law Minister Rana Sanaullah Khan, Irrigation Minister Raja Riaz and Finance Minister Tanvir Ashraf Kaira also approved downgrading the posts of divisional commissioners and DCOs of five city district governments in Punjab.

The recommendations of the committee are being sent to the chief minister for his early approval. The final phase of giving legal cover to the reforms would be started after the chief minister’s approval, sources said.

They said the committee approved abolition of all “redundant” posts of additional IGs, DIGs, SSPs and SDPOs in the police department.

The police department had become too heavy under the Musharraf government’s Police Order, increasing alone the number of additional IGs from the previous two to 13.

A senior police official said the department had itself suggested reduction in the posts to help the government save money without affecting its operational side.

The police posts which are being abolished include Additional IGs Vigilance, Research and Development, and Operations. There are four posts of DIGs, including Director Sports and DIGs Administration, in Multan and two other cities.

One post of SSP and 59 posts of SDPOs where DSPs and ASPs belonging to the Police Service of Pakistan are posted, are also included in the downsizing list.

The committee approved abolition of the posts of EDOs Information Technology, Law, Literacy and most importantly Revenue in the district governments.

It may be mentioned here that the post of EDO Revenue was created under the Local Government Ordinance 2001, giving it the revenue powers of the post of divisional commissioner that was then abolished.

Sources said the government was also considering to withdraw the revenue powers of the district governments given to them again under the Local Government Ordinance 2001. And in view of the EDO Revenue post abolition, the Board of Revenue has been asked to prepare proposals regarding the new revenue administrative set-up, and suggest amendments in the related laws accordingly.

They said it would also be required to amend the Local Government Ordinance 2001 to give legal cover to the abolition of the post of EDO Revenue, and the authorities concerned had been asked to start the homework.

They said the committee approved reduction of the one each posts of members general and judicial of the Chief Minister’s Inspection Team. It also agreed to abolish another CMIT general post and instead allowed it to have one more member engineering.

Similarly, the committee approved abolition of one each post of planning and development member and joint chief economist.

The committee approved downgrading the posts of commissioners of divisions not having city district governments from BS-21 to BS-20. The posts of commissioners of divisions having city district governments would continue to be in BS-21.

According to an earlier proposal, all seats of divisional commissioners were to be downgraded from the existing BS-21 to BS-20.

The committee approved downgrading the posts of all DCOs of the five city district governments of Lahore, Faisalabad, Multan, Gujranwala and Rawalpindi from the existing BS-21 to BS-20. At present, junior officers are holding a number of BS-20 and BS-21 posts of DCOs, indicating that personal choice and not merit is the rule of the game in Punjab.