LAHORE: An officer of the Punjab Information Depart-ment has been made officer on special duty apparently as a punishment for accepting a position principally belonging to officers of the Provincial Management Services (PMS).

Punjab Food Authority PRO Hafiz Qaiser Abbas was given the additional charge of Assistant Commissioner (HR) in the Lahore DC office. The move attracted criticism from the PMS group since it is a cadre seat.

Subsequently, the DC withdrew the orders on the pressure of the PMS four days ago.

The PMS did not stop here. It reportedly made the PFA DG to remove Mr Abbas from the post of authority PRO and give its additional charge to PFA Additional Director General Asif Ali Dogar, who is a PMS officer of grade 18.

A senior official told Dawn thePMS group was opposing the appointment of the Pakistan Administrative Service (PAS) officers in provincial administration services quoting rules and regulations but it did not follow the same rules to get posting against general cadre seats.

According to a list available to Dawn, as many as 27 PMS officers have been posted in various areas of the province, holding both technical and general cadre seats, effectively denying food authority officers their rightful positions.

PFA former PRO Mr Abbas told Dawn that the transfers and postings were a routine bureaucratic procedure and nothing illegal had fappeb in his case. PFA DG Jahangir was not available for comment.

The PMS Association has filed a writ in court against the appointment of an officer from the Pakistan Audit and Accounts in the Punjab Food Authority. However, at the same time, the same PMS group successfully managed 10 seats within the authority, including the highly technical post of field operations which requires food safety graduates.

Published in Dawn, October 8th, 2023