Rewarding senior bureaucrats

ISLAMABAD: According to reports, 33 senior bureaucrats have been promoted to Pay Scale 22 (status of a federal secretary), a dream position for a civil servant. In the past, the position of federal secretary was the exclusive prerogative of an elite service, the Civil Service of Pakistan. The name was changed to District Management Group in the wake of the administrative reforms of 1973, carried out by Zulfikar Ali Bhutto’s government. The present government has approved a new title, the Pakistan Administrative Service (PAS), which is basically old wine in a new bottle. Most of the officers who have been promoted belong to this service. An unprecedented number of bureaucrats have been promoted to BPS-22 during the last four years, including officers belonging to the Foreign Service, the Police Service, Customs and the Secretariat Group to accommodate favourite officers.
The package that a federal secretary or a BPS-22 officer gets is quite lucrative. It comes with a hefty salary, foreign trips and perks and access to a fleet of cars belonging to the attached departments, autonomous organisations and projects that come under the ministry. After retirement, a BPS-22 officer gets a residential plot in Islamabad and a government-paid driver and orderly. A federal secretary and his spouse are also entitled to gratis official passport for life.
The basic responsibility of the bureaucracy is to formulate economic and social policies for the welfare of the people and for their safety and security. Has our bureaucracy fulfilled this responsibility? The country is facing serious crises, the most devastating of which is the energy one, which affects the entire economy. In such a situation, how can the government justify promoting its own employees to such high posts?
Asghar Mahmood


The Express Tribune