By Ansar Abbasi

ISLAMABAD: Top bureaucrats will meet next week to discuss whether to abolish some controversial service groups like the information, railways and postal cadres while some new groups may be set up.

The secretaries committee would meet to discuss a major civil service restructuring plan that carries a detailed proposal for abolition of certain existing cadres and creation of new ones at federal, provincial and district levels.

Among those being considered for abolition is the Commerce Group, besides Pakistan Railways, Pakistan Postal Service and Information Groups. The proposal, prepared by the National Commission on Government Reforms (NCGR), envisages the creation of three All-Pakistan services, including the National Executive Service (NES), the Pakistan Administrative Service (PAS) (new version of District Management Group), and the Police Service of Pakistan (PSP).

The proposed federal services include Pakistan Foreign Services (PFS), Pakistan Audit and Accounts Service (PAAS), and Pakistan Taxation Service with two cadres for Customs and Inland Revenue (PTS).

The proposed All Pakistan Services and the Federal Services would replace all the existing services/cadres of the Central Superior Services. At the provincial level, the NCGR recommends the creation of Provincial Management Service (PMS), Provincial Executive Service (PES), Provincial Technical or Professional Service (PTS) and Provincial Judicial Service (PJS). At the district level, the NCGR proposes the creation of District Executive Service.

In addition to the above services, the ex-cadre positions and subordinate services (grade 1-16) will be retained whereas another class of employees, i.e., contract employees will be introduced at all levels starting with MP-I.

The major changes proposed in this new framework compared to the present system are as follows:

i) All cadres and occupational groups will have a uniform nomenclature, i.e. service.

ii) A new All Pakistan Service – the National Executive Service (NES) along with the Provincial Executive Service (PES) will be constituted for each province for filling senior positions (grade 20-22) at the federal/provincial secretariat and other identified select key positions in other attached departments/autonomous bodies/corporations. The NES/PES will be open to all existing officers serving the government and also to professionals from outside meeting certain eligibility criteria. Regional/provincial quotas for recruitment to the NES will address the complaints of smaller provinces for non-representation at secretary/additional secretary levels in the federal government.

iii) Fresh recruitment to some of the existing cadres and occupational groups proposed in this paper, e.g. Railways Service, Postal Service, etc, will be discontinued through the CSS examination and substituted by competitive recruitment of requisite skilled manpower through the FPSC or other transparent and open modes.

iv) A new District Service encompassing posts of grade 1-16 will be established for each district or group of districts in the first phase. The Article 240 of the Constitution of Pakistan stipulates that there would be All Pakistan, Federal and Provincial Services. The Constitution does not mention a District Service.

In view of the fact that most of the interaction of a common citizen takes place at the district level, such a properly constituted and well-trained group of civil servants is essential at the district level. For City District Governments, the District Service can be extended to include grade 17 officers. These District Service officers will share the posts with the provincial and APUG officers.

v) Separate cadres of Inland Revenue and Customs will be retained but become components of the Pakistan Taxation Service.

vi) District Management Group would be renamed as Pakistan Administrative Service.

vii) Provincial Technical and Professional Services with multiple cadres such as, education, health, and engineering services, etc, will be set up by each province where the critical mass and viable pyramidal structure criteria are met.

viii) Contract, part-time employment and use of consultants would be used with extreme care and diligence in a transparent manner in such cases only when there is non-availability of an appropriate officer to fill the position from the lot of existing servants.

The NCGR is fully cognizant of the fact that both the number of candidates as well as the quality of successful applicants at the Central Superior Services (CSS) examination have deteriorated in recent years.

The contributing factors for this, the commission said, include a buoyant private sector, particularly in the financial services, telecom, IT, electronic media, oil and gas, is offering more attractive opportunities at the entry level, a large number of scholarships and fellowships for studies abroad provided by the Higher Education Commission and the introduction of tenure track system with high starting salaries are diverting some of the potential candidates towards teaching as a career, and the uncertain prospects, unsettled terms and conditions, and underpaid compensation package of civil services have discouraged otherwise eligible candidates from applying for the CSS.

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