PESHAWAR, Aug 11: The NWFP government is mulling over upgradation of recently-created five posts of regional coordination officers (RCOs), delegating more authority to the civil servants occupying ‘coveted’ slots, it is learnt.
A proposal to upgrade the RCOs’ posts from existing Grade 20 to 21 was reviewed in power corridors to enable the officers to ‘effectively’ exercise the authority delegated to them, an official told Dawn here on Monday.
The NWFP government had created the offices of RCOs at five different places in line with approval of the prime minister a few months ago to improve coordination, being a major missing link of the devolution of power plan, among different tiers of the government.
The RCOs had been given immense administrative powers, most of which were once exercised by the now defunct commissioners.
For example, district coordination officers and political agents needed to interact with the provincial government and the Fata Secretariat through RCOs concerned on the law and order situation and administration issues. Likewise, deputy inspectors-general of police of the regions and the capital city police officer of Peshawar had been directed to report to and seek guidance of RCOs concerned in matters pertaining to law and order in their respective regions. Administrative secretaries while interacting with their district offices were also required to use the channel of RCOs.
The main lacuna, said the official, in the current system was that the posts of RCOs were in Grade 20, whereas a number of officials supposed to report them were one-step senior to them, meaning they (RCOs) could not fully exert their authority.
For instance, the posts of the DCO and the CCPO of Peshawar and administrative heads of many provincial departments were in Grade 21, said the official, adding: “This is an inbuilt flaw in the system because seniority always matters at senior-level positions.” Apart from those posts, at least two DIGPs serving in the NWFP were in Grade 21, which might make things difficult for RCOs to exert their authority on them, the official opined.
“To tackle the seniority issue, the provincial government has been reviewing the arrangement and upgrading the RCOs’ posts will be one of the ‘corrective’ measures to make the system more effective in days to come,” he said.
The official further said that at present one of the five RCOs was due for promotion to Grade 21, so in this scenario the provincial government either had to upgrade his post or transfer him to a post of Grade 21 to materialise his promotion orders.
However, some in official circles believed that the move was apparently aimed at making the RCOs more effective, but the real motive was to create some more senior positions.
“This will benefit officers of the Provincial Management Service -- formerly known as Provincial Civil Service -- and accommodate some officers from the District Management Group currently serving against less-lucrative posts,” they opined.
Creation of new posts, they said, in senior grade would have a trickle-down effect making it possible for many junior officers to get promotion to the next grades.