LAHORE, Non 17: Top Punjab government officials have managed to get deferred the ‘imposition’ of a National Reconstruction Bureau-designed new civil service structure by mooting an ‘alternative and viable proposal’.

The NRB plan was deferred at a recent cabinet meeting chaired by the president in Islamabad, which left the restructuring to the new government.

Official sources told Dawn that the Punjab team managed to bring home its assessment of the proposed National Executive Service (NES). It said the induction in the proposed National Executive Service (NES) at the mid-career level (BS-19) would give the country nothing but a flawed system.

The major breakthrough came when NRB Chairman Lt-Gen Tanvir Naqvi (retired) said that every country required an elitist service to run its affairs but he could not justify the reason of replacing the one (DMG) with another (NES), sources said.

Mooting its own plan, the Punjab team submitted that it would be better to remove faults and make adjustments in the existing service structure in commensurate with the devolution plan, rather than introducing an altogether new system.

The alternate system, presented by the Punjab at the meeting, says the initial recruitment in the NES should be made in BS-17 through an annual open competitive examination to be conducted by the Federal Public Service Commission.

The horizontal induction in the NES could be made at BS-20 level through an effective and transparent system of selection. All recruitments should be made in accordance with provincial quotas as prescribed in the constitution.

The age limit should be between 21 to 28 years and the academic qualifications MA/MSc or equivalent, or BA/BSc or equivalent with 16 years of recognized formal education. There should be two chances to clear the entry examination.

The training of the NES should be two years in specialized course culminating in a professional post-graduate degree of MBA, law, development economics, social policy and planning, public finance, public administration and human resource management.

The lateral level entry (BS-20) should be made against at least 30 per cent of the NES posts, which should be filled from amongst candidates from public and private sector, including an adequate quota for the PES.

The minimum qualification for such induction should be MA/MSc or equivalent or BA/BSc or equivalent with 16 years of recognized formal education. The candidates must have a minimum of 15 years working experience in the public sector or a reputed private sector organization. The maximum age limit should be 45 years and 50 years during the first five years. The selected candidates should be given a 12-month training at the National School of Public Policy, including on-job training.

The fast-track promotion should be made from BS-17 to 18 after four years (including the pre-service training), to BS-19 after nine years, to BS-20 after 15 years, to BS-21 after 22 years and to BS-22 after 27 years. The upward mobility from BS-20 should be on the principle of best among the best.

Placement of officers in BS-17 to 19 should be made on rotation against a variety of jobs to afford them the best possible exposure. Mid-career training should be imparted through graded short courses in examination mode for building capacity. The promotion from BS-17 to 19 should be made on the basis of on-job performance and ratings achieved in training courses.

The plan suggests that in order to provide the widest possible exposure to members of the NES and to ensure quality staffing at all levels of government, the rank structure of the service should comprise appropriate posts in the tehsil municipal administration, district government, and the provincial and the federal governments. The cadre should comprise appropriate posts from BS-17 to 22 and provide specialized streams as may be determined.

The NRB plan had suggested BS-19 as the entry point of the NES, reserving for it only the posts of all secretaries, additional secretaries, joint secretaries, deputy secretaries and heads of important attached departments in the federal government and chief secretary and some posts of secretaries, additional secretary and the DCO in the provincial and district governments. Some critically important posts in public sector corporations and autonomous bodies, including heads of these organizations, were also suggested for the NES.

It had suggested the total number of the NES posts between 1,000 to 1,500 as against the existing around 750 DMG officers all over the country.

The NRB was silent over the future of the existing DMG officers after the abolition of their cadre. It was also silent over the future of those junior DMG officers, failing to enter the NES through the competitive exam.