Revenue officials` career growth in limbo

By Mubarak Zeb Khan
date: 20/03/2012

ISLAMABAD, March 19: In what appears to be indifference towards a group collecting more tax than others, the government seems unwilling to allocate grade 22 posts for officials of the Inland Revenue Service (IRS).

Even small cadre groups like postal, audits and accounts, and customs have posts in BPS-22, but no such post has been allocated for the IRS, which collects 89 per cent of the tax revenue generated by federal agencies.

The FBR collects about 90 per cent of the federal government revenue. Of this, 89 per cent is being collected by the IRS group.

The IRS emerged as the biggest group following the World Bank-fun-ded reforms project that saw the merger of sales tax, federal excise duty and income tax units in the past five years. The IRS has a workforce of over 18,000 personnel.

There are 18 regional tax offices (RTOs), three large taxpayers units (LTUs) and 64 tax facilitation centres (TFCs) in the IRS field formation.

A senior tax official told Dawn that the FBR has submitted a request to the government to consider senior slots for the group in BPS-22 and a share in secretariat posts as well.

The official said no response had yet been received from the government on the matter. He said there was no share of the IRS in the secretariatposts especially in BPS-20 and above, dominated currently by the DMG officials.

Even groups with smaller cadre strengths like the Police Service of Pakistan, Audits and Accounts, DMG and Pakistan Postal Service not only have their own cadre posts in BPS-22 but also have a reasonable share in the secretariat group as well.

The official said the alleged discrimination practically limits the career progression of the officers of IRS group to a maximum of BPS-21.

Another senior officer of the group said in comparison to other services there appears to be a bias against the IRS group despite the crucial role itplays vis-Ã -vis the national economy.

A source in the Establishment Division said the FBR had demanded upgradation of seven BPS-21 posts to BPS-22.

A summary has already been submitted in this regard but the government says it may consider only four cadre posts in BPS-22 for the group.

The officer questioned the government`s approach that favours reforming the tax administration but seems unwilling to improve career structure of the IRS group. `This attitude has resulted in severe demoralisation, demotivation and job dissatisfaction across the service group,` the official said.



Revenue officials` career growth in limbo | ePaper | DAWN.COM

ISLAMABAD - The government has decided to appoint Gen Ahmed Shuja Pasha as member of the Federal Public Service Commission after retirement. According to a private TV channel, the Establishment Division has sent the summary of Pasha’s appointment, adding that the name of Supreme Court Registrar Dr Faqir Muhammad was also present in the summary which was later removed.

Pasha likely to become FPSC member | Pakistan Today | Latest news | Breaking news | Pakistan News | World news | Business | Sport and Multimedia

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what humbugs we r,who pretend to live for beauty and never see the dawn :)

By Sartaj Aziz

ZAFAR Iqbal, who passed away last week after a brief illness, was not only an outstanding civil servant but also belonged to a very different class of civil servants.

Through tradition and the force of circumstances, most civil servants learn very early to say ‘yes’ to all commands from above.
Some of them even learn to say ‘yes sir’ and not just ‘yes’. Zafar Iqbal was very different — bold and upright — always looking for opportunities to display his fighting spirit, if he detected any irregularity or digression at any level.

The most dramatic display of Zafar Iqbal’s defiance came in 1972, when he was outraged by the out-of-turn promotion of an officer junior to him as additional secretary.

He submitted an appeal to the establishment secretary and requested him that the issues raised about the criteria, under which the principle of seniority has been ignored, should be clarified and also brought to the notice of the president.

The establishment secretary felt that the representation of Mr Zafar Iqbal was arrogant and provocative and therefore amounted to misconduct. He recommended that the displeasure of the government should be conveyed to the officer.

The president recorded the following order on the file: “I agree with all the reasons given by Establishment Secretary but the action suggested is not sufficient. First suspend this man and charge sheet him for dismissal. I will not tolerate impertinent individuals like this malapert servant.”

Mr Zafar Iqbal was suspended and a charge sheet was served on him in July 1972 with the allegation that the impugned letter was impertinent, arrogant and irrelevant. Mr Zafar Iqbal’s response to this charge sheet was given to an enquiry officer who ruled that the accused officer was guilty of the charges. Subsequently, Mr Zafar Iqbal was dismissed from service in August 1973.

Mr Zafar Iqbal did not give up his fight. He appealed to the Services Tribunal and after six years’ struggle won his case. He was reinstated with full benefits and seniority.

I first met Zafar Iqbal in 1955 when he went to England with the 1953 CSP batch for final training and I was also there for a three-month O&M training course with the British treasury.

After that we remained colleagues and close family friends. Zafar Iqbal rose to prominence in the mid-1960s when, as deputy secretary external finance, he displayed exceptional competence in preparing and presenting the annual foreign exchange budgets which provided the basis for periodical import policies whose centrepiece was the famous Export Bonus Voucher Scheme.

As chief of the international economics section in the Planning Commission at that time, I worked very closely with him and his immediate boss, the late Majid Ali, joint secretary external finance.

Zafar Iqbal’s reputation for hard work and innovative management got another boost in 1979, when after his reinstatement, he took over as chairman, National Development Finance Corporation, which had been set up to meet the funding requirement of public-sector enterprises.

Two other DFIs, namely PICIC and IDBP had been working for two decades to finance private-sector projects, but after the large-scale nationalisation of industries in the early 1970s, there were dozens of corporations to handle nationalised units in several sub sectors.

By the time Zafar Iqbal left NDFC in 1986 to join the central secretariat as secretary ministry of production, it was one of the best DFIs. NDFC’s monitoring role, before extending financial facilities to public-sector enterprises, kept them from gliding into the kind of financial meltdown that was witnessed in later years.

Greenstar, the well known family health NGO, which Zafar Iqbal had been managing for the past 15 years, bears his hallmark of integrity and efficiency. Zafar Iqbal, above all, was a very fine human being. He leaves behind many friends, and admirers who will miss him with many fond memories.

The writer is vice chancellor of the Beaconhouse National University, Lahore.

http://www.dawn.com/2012/03/30/an-ou...l-servant.html

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what humbugs we r,who pretend to live for beauty and never see the dawn :)

WHY were some people so confident about the setup of our civil services and the competence of local civil servants? A prime reason was its method of recruitment. Another was the judicious method of preparing the seniority list.
There was no excuse for exemptions from departmental examinations and career-related trainings. The mode of entry into civil services of a country was only on the basis of merit through competitive examinations. There was no chance for direct inductions.
In the post-independence period, civil services lost their prestige because of violation of rules and regulations on the method of recruitment. Direct appointments on the basis of political influence caused decay in the quality of public servants.
The method for recruitment is defined by law as 50 per cent direct recruitment on the recommendations of the Sindh Public Services Commission (SPSC) on the outcome of the combined competitive examinations, and 50 per cent through promotions from the available lot of Mukhtiarkars serving in the revenue department.
Later on, six per cent seats from the quota of promotions were kept for recruitment as assistant commissioner amongst subordinate officials of the revenue department and PS of the chief secretary, chief minister and ministers of the government of Sindh for which select list ‘A’ and select list ‘B’ were to be prepared on the basis of exigency only and with consultation of the commission.The consecutive governments after 1988 started violating rules while directly appointing assistant commissioners in BS-17 over and above their prescribed ratio of six per cent against promotional seats, giving them seniority from the date of appointment.
The present lot of civil servants of the province, comprising BS-18 to BS-21, is from those officers who were recruited directly through nominations by passing the Public Service Commission and exempting them from mandatory departmental examinations. These officers have usurped the legal rights of qualified people.
Besides, they have occupied prime postings in the government of Sindh as secretary, commissioner, deputy commissioner, additional secretary and deputy secretary.
Therefore, they are delivering less and appeasing their political bosses more.
The government from 1988-1990 and 1994-96 took a big leap for appointments in BS-17 of the executive branch of the S and GAD through direct nominations while bypassing the Public Service Commission and violating relevant rules regarding nominations and quota.
The government took historic strides in according exemptions to their own appointees from passing mandatory departmental examination of assistant collector part I and II.
At least, 90 per cent exemptions have been granted during the last four years.
In this scenario, it is not possible to run the business of government departments in a befitting manner when responsible officers also fall victim to bad governance and start running hither and thither to file appeals/petitions before various courts for promotions and seniority. They keep struggling to save themselves from the crux of the executive authority of political leadership.
DR ABDUL QADEER MEMON
Naushero Feroze, Sindh


Source

THE Central Superior Services examination has a considerable potential for attracting a major portion of educated youths.
The significance of this examination cannot be denied. The question is whether or not this examination is technically the best model.
There appears numerous fissures in the very structure of the CSS examination.
Prerequisite for such an examination to be fair is its ability to maintain a single standard for all contestants. Unfortunately, this requirement is not materialised.
Answer copies are assessed by different professors and subject specialists. A professor of sociology, for instance, who is by generous, may be lavish, if not extravagant, in awarding marks to a candidate of mediocre level whereas the answer paper of a more intelligent and knowledgeably candidate for the same subject checked by a strict expert is likely to get fewer marks.
In this backdrop a candidate is left with the only option of praying for his answer copy to be checked by a benevolent expert.
Doesn’t it mean then that a candidate must be lucky?
This is, then, injustice done to a more intelligent candidate and puts a question mark over the entire examination process.
Another ostensive flaw that can render the examination process vulnerable to being unjust is socio-psycho in nature and called ‘difference of approach’, in sociological terms.
A conformist or non-conformist approach to an idea, thought or a viewpoint of an assessor, more particularly in subjects of the social sciences, history and language other than in natural sciences, sometimes proves critical for candidates.
If an expert finds himself in line with the analytical reasoning put forward by a candidate, he is most likely to award marks, whereas the same idea propounded by other candidate may make another expert to disagree outrightly. Hence, the concept of uniformity in paper assessment remains thoroughly unpredictable.
The FPSC cannot deny that any survey, test or examination which involves luck, chance and human factors, including prejudice, emotional attachment, personal bias, conformist or unconformist approach, can fairly be error-free and its results accurate.
Maintaining impartiality and objectivity, controlling all variables, providing consummate equality for all contestants and ensuring unprejudiced and uninfluenced approaches usher in scientifically accurate results, and this is what ‘objectivity’ is and why theoretic conclusions are valueless without it.
Considering the above-mentioned reservations and internal and external examination procedure pitfalls, the FPSC must come out with a sustainable plan to work on the CSS examination and reforms should be introduced to ensure strict uniformity, universal applicability and equality at all levels to make the examination fault-free, thereby reducing the concept of luck factor.
SAHITO ZAHEER
Khairpur


Source

By Ismail Khan

THE gradual breakdown of law and order in Swat in late 2008 and its total collapse in the early 2009 was until now considered to be the most damning charge against the civil and police bureaucracy of their failure to anticipate and arrest the fast declining security situation.

Since no lessons were learnt, it now appears that the unravelling of events, based on eyewitness accounts, that led to the
Bannu jailbreak in the early hours of April 15, 2012, has upstaged even the Swat paradigm.

In the aftermath of the Bannu jailbreak, some senior officers including the commissioner and DIG police along with the IG prisons Khyber Pakhtunkhwa were removed from their posts and asked to report to the Establishment Department. The last mentioned had taken over less than a month before the horrendous incident.

The malady afflicting the civil service in Pakistan is often traced to its having been politicised. This may not be a wholly correct diagnosis. An ailment essentially needs a correct diagnosis in order to be treated properly.

A proper analysis of the conduct of civil servants, and the quality of the services delivered by them over a period of time would suggest that the rot in the system could more appropriately be called a sort of degeneration set in motion by the wild ambitions and Machiavellian practices preferred by civil servants to the liking of their masters.

The relatively reclusive and taciturn civil officer of yore is dead and forgotten. This is the age of go-getters; of those who cannot wait for their time and turn. The most disrespectful moment in the history of the civil service came when newspapers started speculating about the expected transfers and postings of civil servants. That was followed by even more bizarre developments when some posts were referred to as more lucrative than others.

Civil servants, as the term suggests, are servants in the service of the public. Rationally, they could only be expected to aspire to the highest rung of their service career, whatever that might be.

In Pakistan in general and in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in particular, the situation is quite contrary to the established and perceived norms and practices.

In Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, it is not uncommon to come across ridiculous situations where officers of various groups lay claim to which post or department should go to which group. What motives could be there behind such outlandish demands?

The officers of various groups use the platforms of their respective associations to air their grievances and demands. In Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, officers’ associations are literally being run on the lines of trade unions; in fact, some of the tactics applied by the former surpass even those resorted to by the latter.

This is disappointing, as a better performance would ideally have been expected from those serving in the province which is in the forefront of the war-like situation in the country. Unfortunately, the situation, as it is, can best be described as a free for all. Inappropriate demands bordering on those that don’t make sense are being made and pandered to.

In the context of the prevailing state of civil service in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, grades and ranks have become immaterial.

There are many examples where officers of junior grades are occupying posts for which they are otherwise not qualified.

The track record of some officers would indicate that these gentlemen have rarely, if ever, held a post proportionate to their grades. Some secretary-level officers complain in private that they feel embarrassed when they find themselves being equated with officials who until recently were serving as their section officers.

All posts of District Coordination Officers (DCOs) are invariably in basic scales of 20, save the one in Peshawar which is in 21. However, hardly if any of these 26 posts have been filled by officers of the requisite grade.

In one particular case, a DCO in a very important district bordering Afghanistan and the largest in size is occupied by an officer in BS-17, while the post of the DCO Peshawar is held by an officer in BS-18. Doesn’t this amount to having no trust in senior officers?

Similarly, there are tens of examples where an officer could be holding the charge of another post in addition to his own, which must invariably be very onerous and demanding full attention.

An officer could simultaneously look after the additional duties of fields as varied as industry or agriculture or in a more absurd scenario of health and minerals.

In many cases, an officer could be a commissioner and secretary of two or three different departments in one year.

Although examples of such rare genius cannot be found anywhere else, yet the country is in a state that is far from desirable.

In Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, a uniform service structure in the shape of the Provincial Management Service (PMS) has been introduced by the previous government thus dealing a lethal blow to professionalism.

In the new scheme of things, an officer serving as section officer could suddenly be recalled to go and serve in the field as magistrate. That at least would be a lesser evil; the most bedevilling scenario being the one in which PMS officers keep dictating their own choice in the face of temptation.

There appears to be no silver lining as the status quo seems to be to the liking of one and all. Mediocrity, the sum total of our civil service, will forever rule this country, and remain unchallenged.

The writer is editor, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

http://dawn.com/2012/05/18/conduct-of-civil-servants/

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what humbugs we r,who pretend to live for beauty and never see the dawn :)

Hanif Khalid
Saturday, May 19, 2012

ISLAMABAD: Various proposals are being considered to increase perks and allowances of civil and military employees.Sources said there is a proposal to increase the daily allowance of government employees from BPS-17 to BPS-22 by 50 percent. About two years ago, the daily allowance of government employees from BPS 1 to 16 was doubled.There is another proposal to increase the daily allowance of government employees in BPS-17 and 18 from Rs640 to Rs960. Another proposal to increase the daily allowance while travelling inside and outside the country is also being considered. There are chances of 100 percent raise in the medical allowance for employees from BPS-1 to 15.

http://www.thenews.com.pk/Todays-New...aily-allowance

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what humbugs we r,who pretend to live for beauty and never see the dawn :)

CSS exam: the official view

THIS is with reference to Sahito Zaheer’s letter (May 8).
Both in the written examinations and viva voce the Commission makes efforts to assess the intellectual and academic calibre of candidates, their analytical ability and level of maturity and other personal qualities.
It is clarified that though the number of candidates appearing in the CSS examinations is increasing every year and there is a corresponding increase in the scripts that have to be assessed, the FPSC has maintained the high standard of CSS examination as a model recruitment examination with its fairness, transparency and integrity recognised all over the country.
The FPSC ensures uniform assessment of all candidates by engaging one examiner for one subject who is a recognised and
experienced expert in the field.
Views of Sahito Zaheer in respect of the conformist and non-conformist approach to an idea regarding assessment are misconceived. It is merely his presumption that only the conformists will get rewarded. Given the standard of examiners, there is no likelihood that they would indulge in a biased approach. Their approach is purely objective and academic.
In fact, every effort is made by the FPSC to provide a level playing field to all CSS candidates.




ABDUL SABOOR NIZAMANI
Director General (E), FPSC
Islamabad.


Source

Gilgit-Baltistan, the next slaughter house for merit
Ansar Abbasi
Friday, June 01, 2012

ISLAMABAD: In a unique case of murder of merit, government non-papers, which are never made part of the official record, show why the most eligible candidates are deprived of their right to get official jobs in the federal government under Gilani’s misrule.

Official documents and some of these government non-papers available with The News show how callously the federal government had annulled the process of appointments in an official department merely because those who had passed the written test and got the top positions were not the blue-eyed boys of political masters.

Such ruthless is the murder of merit in government appointments that against 50 posts up to BPS-16 level, the list of favourites contained 63 names, thus leaving no chance for even one single appointment on merit.

Smelling a rat, the officer concerned, who was to make the appointments or recommend the same, timely got the results of the tests displayed on department’s noticeboard for public but the political master came with a final blow — annul the recruitment process for initiation of a fresh process and remove the officer, who tried to be smart to uphold merit.

Adding insult to injury, this is all happening in the newly-established Gilgit-Baltistan Secretariat in Islamabad and those aspiring to get their favourites appointed include Federal Minister for Kashmir Affairs and Gilgit-Baltistan Manzoor Wattoo, Member GB Council Saeed Afzal, Advisers to Chairman GB Council Attaullah Khan, Ghulam Hussain Saleem and Wazir Ibadat Ali, and Chairman PAC GB Council Mohammad Ibrahim.

The non-papers show Manzoor Wattoo recommended the names of 40 favourites, mostly from Okara, for their appointment but it could not happen thus resulting in the annulment of the recruitment process.

Non-papers, which are available with the deputy secretary and joint secretary administration of the council secretariat, are not part of the official record but one of these papers contains addition of another name of a favourite by Minister Wattoo in his own hand writing.

The official documents, however, presented a convincing justification for annulling the recruitment process but here too the minister, while approving the recommendation of annulling the recruitment process, smartly ignored the secretary’s proposal that recruitment should not be made against those positions that would be of no use for the next three years.

The re-initiation of the recruitment process afresh would not include new advertisements but would fill all the posts including those which would be of no use for the next three years.In his note, the minister wrote, “Recommendations to the extent of annulment is approved. Recruiting exercise may be taken. Recruitment process may be started afresh.”

According to the official documents, the results of written tests were announced in April 2012 but once the interested parties found the names of their favourites missing from the merit list of successful candidates, the process of annulment started on May 2 and concluded positively on May 5, 2012.

Everybody, even the secretary, endorsed the file that the recruitment process was transparent and merit-based but the council secretariat got a request from the GB chief minister on May 1, asking for the initiation of recruitment process afresh.

The PAC Chairman, Muhammad Ibrahim, Adviser to Chairman GB Council Prof Ghulam Hussain Saleem and Member Council Saeed Afzal, all three who had recommended the appointment of their favourites as reflected in the non-papers, also approached the minister on May 2 and May 3 with the demand that the written test be annulled as the maximum possible number of applicants could not take the tests because of the law and order situation and other reasons. It was also said that the candidates of GB were unable to appear in the tests.

After receiving these objections, the concerned Joint Secretary GBC Shakil Malik wrote on the file: “(para 35 of the official file) 35. The chief minister Gilgit-Baltistan has stated that a large number of candidates of Gilgit-Baltistan approached him regarding late receipt of call letter. They could not appear in written test due to prevailing law and order situation and uncertain weather conditions. He proposed that ongoing recruitment process may be cancelled and started afresh.

“Similarly, Professor Ghulam Hussain Saleem, Adviser, and Muhammad Ibrahim, Chairman PAC, have also stated that Baltistan region has totally been ignored as candidates from Baltistan could not reach for written test due to non receipt of call letters in time and law and order situation.”

In para 37 of the official file, Shakil clearly wrote: “Probably worthy members and the honourable chief minister have names of some particular candidates in their minds who could not succeed.” In his note, Shakil Malik initially erroneously (because of clerical staff mistake) mentioned that the candidates appearing from the GB were 36 percent of total 571 candidates from the GB but before the annulment order of the minister, a fresh note was moved and the staff of the minister was informed as well that the candidates who had appeared for the test were not 36 percent but 72 percent. But still the written test was annulled for obvious reasons.

The official file, while regretting the earlier mistake, conveyed to the secretary of the GB Council Secretariat the exact figures of those who had applied and those who had appeared in the exam. The file also mentioned that Zafar, a staff of Manzoor Wattoo, has been given the aforesaid figures on telephone. However, still the written tests were annulled.

Now the secretariat is working on fresh recruitment process from written tests without realising how all such candidates would appear again after knowing the fate of their written test. “Only political appointees would appear,” a GBC Secretariat official said, adding they had to now issue call letters to the same candidates whose written tests were conducted earlier and merit based short-listing was done for the interviews.

“Even if a fresh process is to be started, it should have been with fresh advertisement giving one month notice as provided in the recruitment policy,” the official source said but feared that seeing Shakil Malik removed from the post of joint secretary after his struggle for merit, there is hardly anyone else in the secretariat to offer the next sacrifice for principles.

Manzoor Wattoo was repeatedly approached by The News on all his contact numbers but he neither responded nor replied to any question sent to him through text messages.One Qadeer, personal secretary to Manzoor Wattoo, was approached on Tuesday and was informed regarding questions by a staffer of The News. Qadeer promised that Manzoor Wattoo would call back and will respond but it never happened.


Source

CSS exam: a civil servant’s view

THIS is apropos of Abdul Saboor Nizamani’s letter ‘CSS exam: the official view’ (June 1).

He says the Federal Public Service Commission (FPSC) does not employ any biased approach in examining candidates and that the FPSC ensures uniform assessment of all candidates by engaging one examiner for one subject.

I beg to differ with his clarification on the following grounds: there is no denying the fact that some subjects in Central Superior Services (CSS) examinations are very low-scoring and others are high-scoring. For example, many science students never opt for their previously studied academic courses and rely on subjects pertaining to history, regional languages, Arabic and geography.

A cursory look at the latest marking trends proves that certain subjects which are not very relevant to a civil service are highly rewarding while subjects like economics, public administration, statistics, computer science and law. which have a growing application in civil service, are comparatively low-scoring subjects. I have never heard of anyone scoring above 70 per cent in Economics, and yet every Tom, Dick and Harry scores 75 per cent and above in regional languages.

The favouritism practised by some subject specialists and the apathy shown by others during marking of optional subjects of the CSS is in marked contrast to the policy of fair and transparent FPSC so acclaimed by the writer.

To quote another example, I would like to know which post-graduate university in Pakistan, apart from UET, Lahore, includes in its syllabus tensor analysis as a course on applied mathematics.

I have yet to come across a single teacher who knows how to solve partial differential equations with Monge’s method. The crux of my argument is that it is time the FPSC adopted a uniform system of compulsory and optional subjects by
identifying subjects bearing significance in policy-making like economics, sociology, information technology, public administration, professional ethics, logic, and administrative law. And then devise an advanced system of online examination whereby any number of candidates could be examined in real time. The GRE international examination is one such model to follow. The FPSC needs to remove the role of luck factor by adopting technology-based comprehensive assessment of candidates. Quizzes posted by FPSC interview panels remind one of Qudratullah Shahab’s satirical remarks on ICS vivas.

Reliance on antonym, synonym, pair of words, etc, usually filter out quite brilliant candidates (50 per cent candidates flunk English precis and composition) because they don’t know that ‘Cajun’ is a French-Canadian descendant or ‘veld’ is a South African grassland.

JUNAID KHAN
Islamabad


Source