http://www.jang.com.pk/thenews/jul20...main/main3.htm
The wages of promotion
BS-22 officer asked to refund
additional pay since June 1998
By Ansar Abbasi
ISLAMABAD: At least 49 serving federal secretaries would figure below the newly, but controversially, inducted BS-22 officer of the Secretariat Group Abdullah Yusuf because of his backdated appointment by the prime minister.
Yusuf, who has been previously enjoying management grade-I, has been asked to refund the additional pay that he has been drawing with effect from June 1, 1998, the date of his induction. Management grade-I offers more salary as compared to BS-22.
A government spokesman said while approving his retrospective induction, the competent authority has asked to get the differential pay refunded from the officer with effect from his date of induction. Yusuf’s is the first ever case of induction in BS-22 in any of the civil service groups since their creation.
When contacted, Yusuf said he would refund whatever is the differential amount. Maintaining his known decency, he did not sound bitter to what was reported about him in The News on Thursday. He rather politely said, "You have done your job, I don’t mind it."
Because of his backdated induction, which according to many is illegal but the government does not see anything wrong with it, Yusuf will appear on top of all 49 federal secretaries presently representing the Secretariat Group.
According to a source, besides the controversial induction, the backdated appointment is in contravention of a Supreme Court ruling that had set the principle that induction, even where allowed, could not be made retrospectively.
Interestingly, this new controversy of BS-22 induction has hit the bureaucracy at a time when some of the federal secretaries are already contesting why their names have been included in the Secretariat Group instead of the service/group they originally belonged to.
Although the Secretariat Group office memorandum has the provision to make secretaries in the group while promoting officers of BS-21 from other services and groups, some of the officers so promoted contest that they should have been promoted in their own group/cadre. They argue that the government could not change their group/service without their consent.
The new development, it is believed, would further this controversy amid unconfirmed reports that the government might create a few positions of secretary general in the bureaucracy. In such case, the seniority of the federal secretary would matter a lot.
Before Yusuf’s induction in the Secretariat Group, Ejaz Rahim, secretary cabinet, was the senior most among secretaries. He got BS-22 on 15-5-2000. Now Yusuf, by getting the seniority in BS-22 of 1998, will supersede even Rahim.
The other secretaries in the Secretariat Group, who will figure below Yusuf, include Shafqat Ezdi Shah, secretary local government; Tasneem Noorani, secretary commerce; Khalid Mehmood, chairman Bank of Punjab; Tariq Farooq, secretary parliamentary affairs; Maj ® Muhammad Naeen Khan, former chief secretary Balochistan; Syed Anwar Mehmood, secretary health; Dr Waqar Masood Khan, special secretary PM Sectt; Muhammad Shakil Durrani, secretary railways; Syed Masood Alam Rizvi, chairman trading corporation of Pakistan; Kh Zaheer Ahmed, secretary scientific and technology research; Maj (retd) Khalid Latif, OSD; Maj (retd) Syed Kamal Shah, secretary interior; Maj (retd) M Fazal Durrani, chairman Pakistan insurance corporation; Khalid Saeed, secretary economic affairs division; Kamran Rasool, chief secretary Punjab; M Shuja Shah, executive director World Bank; Zahiruddin Babar, secretary Wafaqi Mohtasib; Javed Sadiq Malik, principal secretary to PM; Dr Sheikh Aleem Mehmood, OSD; Salim Gul Sheikh, secretary tourism; Syed Jalil Abbas, secretary culture; Ahmad Waqar, secretary petroleum; Ijaz Ahmed Qureshi, chief secretary NWFP; Ghias Uddin; Tariq Mehmood, secretary communications; Muhammad Jamil, secretary minorities; M Humayun Farshori, secretary planning and development; M Jehangir Bashar, secretary board of investment; Syed Bilal Ahmed, special secretary finance (military); Syed Mohsin Asad, secretary tax ombudsman; Syed Safdar Javed, senior member board of revenue Punjab; Mohammad Ismail Qureshi, secretary food; Sajid Hassan, secretary education; Sajid Hussain Chattha, secretary states and frontier regions; Ismail Niazi, secretary narcotics control; Muhammad Aslam Sinjarani, secretary labour and overseas; Abdur Rauf Chaudhry, secretary housing; Suhail Safdar, secretary women; Mohsin Hafeez, secretary president secretariat; Suleman Ghani, secretary industries, Rasul Bux Baloch, secretary Kashmir affair and Northern Areas; Shahid Rafi, secretary information; Suleman Siddiq, principal secretary finance and taxation Punjab; Subtain Fazle Haleem, chairman planning and development; K B Rind, chief secretary Balochistan; and Tanvir Ali Agha, special secretary finance.