PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa PCS Officers Association and its counterparts from other provinces would take part in a seminar on the civil service reforms on September 16.

The seminar is being organised by All Pakistan PCS Officers Association in Lahore to discuss the proposed civil service reforms. Officials told Dawn that the provincial cadre officers were unhappy over being left out in the Prime Minister Task Force on civil service reforms.

PCSOA had earlier this month written a letter to the prime minister, expressing its reservations over the task force’s terms of references.

“This association has reservations over the ToRs, since the civil services in the provinces is provincial subject and provincial assemblies are custodian of civil service under Article 240 (B) of the Constitution,” said the letter.

It said that currently more than 1,000 positions in share of Pakistan Administrative Service cadre in all provinces were lying vacant due to the smaller number of officers.

It said that provincial officers had to spend 10 to 15 years in a single grade, but not entitled to get promotion to the vacant positions. It said that all important provincial positions were being occupied by PAS officers and it was contentious that the federal officers were running education, local government and health departments that were purely provincial services. “It is a violation of 18th Amendment,” said the letter.

The association asked the prime minister to refer the matter due to its importance to the task force.

“Merit-based recruitment, promotion and other policies should only be implemented subject to annulment of 1993 apportionment formula and bring about parity among civil servants,” it said.

Published in Dawn, September 11th, 2018