ISLAMABAD, Oct 17: The Central Selection Board has decided to promote 20 grade 20 officers of the federal government to the post of additional secretary in grade 21. Under the decision, a similar number of officers have been superseded.

The board interviewed 60 civil servants, the promotion of 20 of them was deferred, 20 were superseded and the remaining 20 were promoted.

“The officers who were superseded were not given any reason for the action and their annual confidential reports were very good,” an official said.

The CSB is headed by Rana Bhagwandas, Chairman of the Federal Public Service Commission. Its federal members are the prime minister’s Principal Secretary Khushnood Lashari who has the additional charge of establishment division and Cabinet Secretary Nargis Sethi.

All the chief secretaries are on the board along with two legislators, under a system introduced by the PPP government.

The superseded officers, some of them holding key positions at the federal and provincial levels, are: Mohammad Rashid (Director General of Employees Old-age Benefits Institution), Rizwan Tariq (DG, Soil and Survey of Pakistan), Rao Shakil (DG, Haj), Mian Zulqernain Aamir (Joint Secretary, Narcotics Division), Tariq Masood (JS, Defence), Manzoor Hayat (Zarai Taraqiati Bank), Aftab Ahmed Manika (Member, Board of Revenue, Punjab), Iftikhar Hussain (JS, Production Division), Aslam Hayat (Chairman, Gwadar Port Authority), Oriya Maqbool Abbasi (DG, Walled City Sustainable Development Project, Punjab), Mohammad Arif Khan (former MD, Utility Stores Corporation), Arif Elahi (Secretary, Food, Sindh) and Ahmed Yar Khan (National School of Public Policy, Lahore).

“The minutes have not been released apparently because of apprehension that the superseded officers may challenge the decision in court,” the official said.

Those whose promotion to grade 21 was approved are: Khusro Pervez (JS, Economic Affairs Division), Arif Ahmed Khan (Secretary, Home, Sindh), Syed Iftikhar Hussain Babar (awaiting posting, Punjab), Fazal Abbas Mekan (awaiting posting, Punjab), Naseer Jamal (Secretary, Labour, Sindh), Syed Khalid H. Gilani (Secretary, Food, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa), Iftikhar Ahmed (Member, BoR, Punjab), Capt (retd) Yousaf (Secretary, Transport, Punjab), Arifa Subohi (Director, Civil Services Academy), Mohammad Hamayun (Secretary, Science and Information Technology, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa), Syed Said Badshah Bokhari (DG, Pakistan Forest Institute), Furqan Bahadar Khan (JS, National Harmony Division), Pir Baksh Khan Jamali (Secretary, Katchi Abadi, Sindh), Obaid Rabbani Qurashi (Member, BoR, Punjab), Shahid Mehmood (Secretary, Mines and Minerals, Punjab), Syed Mubashir Raza (Secretary, Implementation and Coordination, Punjab), Khalid Masood Chaudhry (Member, BoR, Punjab), Abid Javed (DG, Anti-Corruption, Punjab), Siddique Memon (Secretary, Finance, Sindh) and Sohail Akbar Shah (Secretary to Chief Minister, Sindh).

When contacted, a senior official said: “We cannot comment on the matter because the minutes of the meeting have not been circulated among the divisions or ministries concerned.”

This reporter approached a few officials who have been superseded but they said they had not received anything in writing from the CSB.