ISLAMABAD, July 21: A group of professionals working in regulatory bodies have alleged smart manoeuvring by some bureaucrats during the process of selection for top posts in more than two dozen public sector enterprises and regulatory bodies.

A senior official told Dawn that the Prime Minister’s Secretariat and the Cabinet Division had received a number of representations from senior professionals who felt having been elbowed out of the competition process through manoeuvring of age-limits to pave the way for their juniors to become top bosses in key organisations.

“In today’s world of knowledge and innovation, age hardly matters. A youngster in the mid-30s with required qualification and exposure could be as good as a 55-year-old careerist while a 70-year-old veteran with wide experience could do wonders if not cut off from the relevant field,” the official said.

Various ministries have recently advertised for heads of enterprises and set age-limit of 60 years, otherwise retirement age for government employees to attract a wider pool of experienced professionals.

The ministry of power which had earlier set the upper age-limit of 55 years or higher for its power companies enhanced it to 60 years after it was advised to attract experienced candidates and not to limit their choice of candidates at the application stage. The upper age-limit for oil and gas companies (PSO, OGDCL, SNGPL, SSGCL and PPL) is also 60 years.

But for positions of members and chairmen of regulatory bodies, like Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) and National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) which required more experienced people than power companies the maximum age-limit was set at 56. However, the age-limit for another regulator, Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP), is 62 years.“This shows there is no principle for setting age-limit. It’s arbitrary and depends on the availability of connected people in the bureaucracy who are going to protect and promote each other during the selection process,” an official alleged.

“They did so in the previous government and are out to follow it now while using shoulders of the PML-N government,” he said.

Another official said that regulatory bodies needed more experienced people than public sector enterprises because regulators were responsible for steering the entire sectors and acts of various regulatory bodies like Nepra, Ogra and Pemra set the retirement age of their members and chairmen at 65 years. While there is no age limit for members and the chairman of PTA in the Telecom Act, retirement age of 65 has been followed for the PTA.

“Setting the age-limit to a much lower 56 years for the PTA and Nepra will not only limit the availability of experienced candidates for chairmen and members but also become inconsistent with provisions of their respective acts,” said a former Nepra member.

It was in this spirit that regulatory positions are tenure-based, generally having an initial term of four years so that a person is still able to be considered for the second term before reaching the retirement age of 65. The age-limit of 56 is designed to disqualify some professionals at the application stage.

Therefore, senior officials at Nepra and PTA have complained to the government that they have been deliberately kept out of the process through age-limit and they are frustrated to note that their juniors may apply for key regulatory positions and become their bosses.

They said that if the prime minister or courts looked at the entire record which kept on changing the upper age-limits, the dubious moves of some bureaucrats at the cabinet and establishment divisions.

Sources said the age-limit for PTA had been changed and published in newspapers thrice within a few days of the previous government to accommodate a favourite of the then prime minister to influence the lucrative 3G auction. This was followed by hurriedly-framed rules by the cabinet division, subsequently stopped by the Lahore and Islamabad High Courts. Fingers are being pointed towards a couple (a husband and his wife) in telecom and establishment divisions for the move.