PESHAWAR: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is going through an administrative vacuum as the provincial government has posted junior officers as deputy commissioners in most of the districts, attracting reservations from former senior government officials.
According to the information obtained under the recently enacted Right to Information law, in 20 of the 25 districts of the province, grade-18 officers are working against the grade-19 posts of deputy commissioners.
“If the captain of the administrative team is a junior officer, it creates problems at various levels,” said former Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Secretary Rustam Shah Mohmand.
The DC happens to be the coordinator in the district administrative set-up. Apart from supervising the district based government departments’ activities and serving as the principal account officer, the DC also deals with the police department and judiciary in his/her capacity as the head of the civil administration.
Being the administrative head of the district set up under the new local government law, deputy commissioner holds the centre stage to implement the provincial government’s policies, supervise district development activities, keep an eye on the services delivery, and maintain official accounts.
“If the senior superintendent of police is a grade-19 officer and the DC a grade-18 officer, the former won’t listen to advice of the latter,” said Mr Mohmand, who served against numerous important administrative posts during his long civil service.
Even a government college principal working in grade-19, said the former bureaucrat, did not like to take instructions from a grade-18 deputy commissioner.
“Same goes for the medical superintendent and other senior grade staff posted in the districts,” said the ex-chief secretary.
Brigadier (r) Mehmood Shah, who also served as the secretary of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Home and Tribal Affairs Department, brought a different perspective to the issue.
He said a grade-18 officer lacked in administrative experience and deficient in maturity while dealing with army in pressing times.
Given the state of insecurity and militancy in most Khyber Pakhtunkhwa districts, the deputy commissioners have to work closely with the army these days.
“They (junior officers holding offices of deputy commissioners) hesitate and are frightened to interact with senior military authorities,” said Mr Shah, a former senior intelligence officer.
The five Khyber Pakhtunkhwa districts, where grade-19 officers are posted as deputy commissioners, are Karak, Kohistan, Mansehra, Peshawar, and Swat.
Among the grade-18 officers posted as DCs are Matiullah in Abbottabad district, Mohammad Ayaz in Bannu district, Mian Adil Iqbal in Battagram district, Mushtaq Ahmed in Buner district, Tahir Zafar Abbasi in Charsadda district, Mohammad Shoaib Khan Jadoon in Chitral Most of deputy commissioners are junior officersdistrict, Mohammad Abid in Upper Dir district, Mohammad Zubair in Lower Dir district, Waqar Ali Khan in Dera Ismail Khan district, Said Mohammad Jan in Hangu district, Nisar Ahmed in Haripur district, Amjad Ali Khan in Kohat district, Perhizgar in Malakand region, Amir Latif in Mardan district, Zakaullah Khattak in Nowshera district, Zafarul Islam in Shangla district, Kamran Ahmad Afridi in Swabi district, Mohammad Farooq in Tank district, Fazalur Rehman in Torghar district, and Syed Zafar Ali Shah in Lakki Marwat district.
The relevant official circles attributed the problem to the unavailability of senior officers with administrative experience.
A relevant official said the provincial government was constrained to appoint junior officers as deputy commissioners because the federal government did not provide senior civil officers to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa despite repeated requests.
“Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s repeated requests to the centre for delegating senior officers remained unfulfilled,” he said.
According to the official, the federal government has quota in all senior cadre posts in province(s).
As per the relevant rule, 50 per cent of the grade 19 administrative posts in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa should be filled in by officers provided by the federal government.
However, Mr Mohmand, when asked, rejected the impression, saying the federal government never ignored if a province made a formal request.His argument apparently seems true.
Among the 25 officers posted as deputy commissioners, 14 belong to the Pakistan Administrative Service (PAS), formerly titled as District Management Group. Out of the remaining 11 officers working as deputy commissioners, 10 officers are from the Provincial Civil Service, which is considered second to PAS in standards and respect.
One officer posted as deputy commissioner belongs to the Provincial Management Service (PMS), a recently created civil service that was carved out after the introduction of devolution of power.
Being a relevantly new service, officers belonging to PMS mostly hold junior posts, including assistant commissioners and assistant directors.
A few of those who have grade-18 posts they managed to switch over to PMS from other services, including civil secretariat group and federal services.
According to officials, the shortage of senior administrative officers in the province has created opportunities for the inexperienced and the average performers from among the civil servants to land at the priced DC posts by using political influence and through strong networking.
However, Mr Mohmand agreed that senior officers (PAS group) might be reluctant to work in province(s) after the degradation of the civil services following the devolution of power plan.
“The people (civil officers) think they might land at a counsellor’s post or a diplomatic assignment if they remain in Islamabad, that might be stopping most of the officers to avoid going to provincial capitals,” he said.