Vacant Ombudsman office

THE office of Ombudsman exists in more than 100 countries for ensuring good governance and accountability of public servants. In Pakistan, the first ombudsman, also known as wafaqi mohtasib, was appointed in 1983.

The primary objective of the wafaqi mohtasib is to diagnose, investigate, redress and rectify injustices faced by the public from the federal government departments.

Provincial ombudsmen have also been appointed in the provinces of Sindh, Punjab, Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Azad Jammu and Kashmir for similar purpose. The tenure of the wafaqi mohtasib is four years.

This position has been vacant since Oct 27, 2010, when Mr Javed Sadiq Malik completed his tenure. It means there is no public representative or agent of the governed population for redress of their grievances for the last two years. It also means that there is no person in the country qualified to be appointed wafaqi mohtasib.

Though there is no wafaqi mohtasib, a wafaqi mohtasib secretariat with an army of advisers, consultants and support staff is functional on the Constitution Avenue in Islamabad, at the cost of public money. It is also a pity that the Public Accounts Committee has not taken serious note of wastage of public money.

ASGHAR MAHMOOD
Islamabad
Dawn.

Allotment of plots to bureaucrats


According to a media report, senior bureaucrats are putting pressure on the Capital Development Authority (CDA) to create plots in expensive sectors of Islamabad to allot them to BS-22 officers.
The background of this story is that the former prime minister approved a scheme for allotment of additional plots for federal secretaries and senior bureaucrats in BS-22; civil servants in BS-17 and above are allotted only one plot at the time of retirement. This was a special favour for senior bureaucrats to oblige them for their services beyond the call of duty. The Public Accounts Committee has reservations about this scheme.
A recent report has published the names of secretaries who have costly plots allotted in Sector D-12. Many senior bureaucrats have plots in exclusive schemes in their own names or in the names of their family members.
For example, some of them have got allotted very expensive plots in the National Police Foundation Housing Scheme in Sector E-11 at throwaway price though entitled and deserving police officers have been denied plots in this prestigious scheme by the NPF management. The market price of a kanal size plot in E-11 is more than Rs.0.2million. Invest a million and earn 20 millions. This is a simple and easy way to become a millionaire overnight for senior bureaucrats.
Role of the civil service world over is to serve the people by making people-friendly policies. In Pakistan, the senior bureaucrats make only self-serving policies; they are least interested in the welfare of junior officers and the common man.
A National Commission is called for to probe the allotment of plots and farm-houses in the capital to bureaucrats and their cronies.
Asghar Mahmood
Islamabad
Dawn

Recruitment in NAB


GHAZI BAROTHA: I applied for the post of junior investigation officer at the National Accountability Bureau last year. Thousands of candidates applied for different posts advertised by the Bureau in November of 2011. The services of the National Testing Service (NTS) were hired to conduct two tests to evaluate the general competence and psychological suitability of the candidates. With a prominent position on the merit list put together by the NTS, after general competence and psychological tests, I was impressed with the transparency and efficiency of the process. Afterwards, NAB carried out interviews in all provincial capitals as well as in Islamabad. But now rumours are circulating that with the passage of National Accountability Commission (NAC) bill, which will replace the NAB Ordinance of 1999, the recruitment of new candidates will become null and void.

Victim of bureaucracy


THE bureaucracy of Balochistan considers itself a divine entity. They tend to ignore the law and design their own rule of interest.
I am a victim of discriminatory behaviour of Balochistan’s health department. After getting a seat in the then only medical college in Balochistan, my poor parents supported me to complete eight years of MBBS along with house job.
I got MCPS admission by the dispensation of CPSP. Meanwhile, I filed my jobless stipend application before the health secretary so that I could continue my practice without any financial hurdle. But he put my file aside.
I resubmitted a fresh performance certificate, but he again rejected my file.
I had no money and was compelled to discontinue my training. The youth of Balochistan is being forced toward militancy.
DR NAEEM BALOCH
Quetta
Source

A politicized civil service?


ON Nov 12, 2012 the Supreme Court of Pakistan announced its judgment on Constitutional Petition No 23/2012.
Authored by Justice Jawwad S. Khawaja, this landmark judgment held that appointments, removals and promotions be made in accordance with the rules, and discretion if exercised must be so done in a transparent manner; that tenure, posting and transfer must adhere to the rules; that civil servants must not obey illegal orders of superiors; and that officers should not be posted as OSD (officer on special duty) without compelling reasons.
The thrust of the petitioner’s grievance was twofold. First, the standing of the civil service be restored as service of the state and not the regime. Second, political interference should be stopped.
In para nine of the judgment, the learned judge has referred to the civil service and political executive as two limbs of the executive branch of government.
With the greatest of respect, the politician does not see it that way. In his scheme of things, he is charged with the superior task of policy formulation with the civil servant having the subsidiary role of putting such policy into effect. Injecting political overtones into the administration is a natural corollary of such thinking.
Pakistan is said to be a parliamentary form of government with three branches — the judiciary, legislature and executive. The last named is headed by the prime minister who is the chief executive.
The civil service functions under his direct control. He is from a political party with a manifesto that it needs to implement once in power. Failure to deliver would mean a withering away of the party. The civil service is responsible for operational delivery, assisting in policy formulation and implementing programmes and projects.
Pakistan inherited a system of administration from the British in 1947. Built around the ‘steel frame’ of the former ICS it was said to be apolitical, efficient and merit-based.
Unfortunately, the civil service played the role of loyal collaborators to armed forces in the regimes of Gen Ayub (1958-69), Gen Yahya (1969-71), Gen Ziaul Haq (1977-88) and Gen Pervez Musharraf (1999-2008). Secure in the belief that they had constitutional protection (till 1973) civil servants treated politicians with disdain.
On assuming power in 1972, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto decimated the civil service. Doing away with constitutional guarantees, he introduced organic law to regulate the conduct of civil servants.
A media campaign was launched to demoralise them, with politicians using derisive terms such as ‘naukarshahi’, ‘afsarshahi’ and ‘baboos’ for them. Individuals were publicly humiliated and key positions were given to ‘lateral entrants’ recruited on questionable grounds.
The regimes of Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif (1988-1999) saw a further ‘politicisation’ of the civil service. Each political party prepared lists of officers who were sympathetic to it as well as a ‘negative’ list. Gen Musharraf was the icing on the cake. He appointed over 1,000 loyalists from his constituency to civil service positions.
Given the limited job opportunities in the country, the vast majority of civil servants adjusted comfortably to playing second fiddle to the armed forces or to politicians depending on who was in power.
They quickly realised that without the necessary political support they would not make it up the slippery slope of the bureaucratic pyramid. Some civil servants may disagree; unfortunately, this is a harsh reality. But is such politicisation a bad thing? Many countries are abandoning the concept of a neutral civil service.
The United States has a ‘spoils system’ in which a change of administration in Washington every four years sees the entire upper tier of government replaced by appointees subscribing to the policy of the incoming president.
Though the Pendleton Act, 1883 and the Hatch Act, 1939 introduced an element of transparency into the selection process and prohibited political activity among civil servants at middle and lower level, the apex is totally politicised.
Britain was said to boast a neutral civil service. Even here things are beginning to change. In June 2012, Francis Maude, the cabinet minister launched a civil service reform initiative aimed at giving contractual positions to the upper tier of the civil service along the lines of the New Zealand model.
As the Guardian observed, “Sir Humphrey [of Yes, Prime Minister fame] is no longer independent.”
Let it be said unambiguously that the orders of the Supreme Court need to be enforced in letter and spirit. The question is whether an initially demoralised and now ‘politicised’ bureaucracy, will undergo a transformation and a change in attitudes.
The civil service is but a means to an end. In the ultimate analysis, the overall objective of creating such an organisation is to serve the people of Pakistan. The party which has assumed power on the basis of a popular vote should in all fairness be allowed to fulfil its commitments to the electorate.
Politicised civil services continue to deliver reasonably well in developed and developing countries. Neutrality does not necessarily result in efficiency.
A bold initiative is called for. I propose that the civil service be bifurcated into two components. At the highest level, appointments should be made by an incoming political government on a contract basis and be valid only for its tenure. The remaining civil servants would pursue their careers in an apolitical, transparent and merit-based environment.
A number of advantages would accrue. First, the bureaucracy would have a sense of commitment for the policy objectives of the government. Second, knowing that they serve at the sufferance of the political machinery, civil servants would no longer sit on the fence. Third, they would have to deliver in a fixed time frame or face the sack.
Fourth, senior civil servants would quickly recognise that they and the political leadership would sink or swim together.
Fifth, middle and lower level civil servants would be free from pressures and be in a position to give honest rule-based advice. The punishment for differing would be a mere transfer. Let us try this option.
The writer is the author of Political Administrators: The Story of the Civil Service of Pakistan.

Source

Upright civil servants


A RECENT judgment by the Supreme Court provides security to an upright civil servant against the whimsical punitive action for not obeying illegal and unconstitutional orders of their political bosses.
They can now decline to implement illegal, arbitrary, corrupt and discretionary orders of their political masters.
It is true that a number of civil servants obey illegal and unconstitutional orders of their political masters. They do this because of a fear of provoking their wrath and thus loosing a lucrative and comfortable posts and becoming an OSD or being assigned a difficult posting.
There have been and still are some fine and upright civil servants who do the ‘right thing’ without caring for the repercussions.
The apex court judgment will go a long way in improving the performance of the civil servants by giving them legal cover to decline unconstitutional and irregular orders.
But I am afraid lack of security of service is not the only restraining factor for all civil servants in doing the ‘right thing’. It is also the mindset of sycophancy, opportunism and corruption which works in a lot of cases not only in civil services but also in our average middle and upper class members of society whether they belong to public service, politics, or private sector.
There is no doubt many other nations also suffer from the same maladies, but in our land of pure sycophancy, corruption, nepotism and hypocrisy have become a sure route to success.
Unlike developed countries, merit, hard work, integrity and brilliance count very little here. The pedigree, political affiliation, clan and wealth along with the ability to please your superiors, not through hard work and honesty, but by sycophancy and corruption determine your chances of progress and status in society.
However, we must not lose hope at least we are slowly becoming aware that it is not such a bad idea to be correct, just, truthful and honest to build ourselves and our nation.
ZAHEER AHMED
Islamabad


Dawn

Vacant Ombudsman office: govt’s lethargy


THIS refers to Asghar Mahmood’s letter ‘Vacant Ombudsman office’ (Nov 16). It is truly strange that the Federal Ombudsman’s office has been vacant since October 27, 2010, while the huge setup of the Federal Ombudsman secretariat headed by a federal secretary is in place without delivering.
Due to absence of the Federal Ombudsman (Wafaqi Mohtasib), not only a huge number of complainants against the government departments have been denied justice in the last two years, the position of the president of the Asian Ombudsman Association (AOA) having over 30 members is also vacant for, according to its charter, only Pakistan’s Federal Ombudsman could be the president of the association.
The Pakistan’s Federal Ombudsman office also houses the AOA secretariat.In 2009 and 2010, I worked for the AOA as ADB consultant in the ADB regional technical assistance project. It ended in August 2010 and another run of the same project was sanctioned by the ADB.
After the completion of the formalities it was ready to be signed by the ADB and president AOA but it could not materialise due to the absence of the president. One wonders why the government could not find one person to be appointed as Federal Ombudsman in the last two years.
HAIDER BHURGRI
Islamabad


Dawn

LAHORE – Secretaries of all administrative departments of Punjab have decided not to obey any illegal orders of the ministers.
Chaired by Chief Secretary Nasir Mehmood Khosa on Saturday, a meeting also decided to avoid to the utmost making any official OSD (officer on special duty) and start giving postings to those already condemned to functional slumber, sources said.
The same day, the Services department posted six OSDs in different departments, according to sources.
The top babus in their meeting also decided to resolve the employees’ issues outside the courts wherever possible and appoint focal persons in every department to assist the Punjab Advocate General for early disposal of pending cases.
The meeting decided that officers should be guided about completing their documents before retirement, the sources added.
Lauding the Chief Justice of Pakistan’s observation about sticking to the law, the participants discussed the ways to confront any possible illegal orders from the ministers and other government bosses in future.
Sources said that the CS Khosa told the officers to work in line with the law and follow the rules of business only. Quoting the landmark SC judgement, he said that the government officers were servants of the state rather than that of any government.
As for the posting of OSDs, Provincial Civil Service Organization President Rai Manzoor Hussain Nasir and Secretary General Muhammad Shuaib Tariq Warraich have been reinstated and posted in Gujranwala and Okara districts respectively.
The other four OSDs who got new postings are Rab Nawaz Khan Manhais (posted as Board of Revenue (BOR) deputy secretary), Syed Nasir Ali Shah (section officer at Food department), Rana Sajjad Safdar (SO Health department), Asad Raza Kazmi (SO Local Government and Community Development).
When contacted, Rai Manzoor Nasir said he was unaware if the show cause notices served on them have also been withdrawn, adding that they must be withdrawn as per the proposition of the law.
About the secretaries Saturday moot, an officer hoped it would serve as a fresh policy guideline for the officers.
Keeping in view the SC ruling, the chief secretary should establish a complaint cell on unlawful directives at the Civil Secretariat, said a secretary seeking anonymity. The CS may circulate to all the employees to get complaints registered in the cell if any of the ministers or their own superiors compels them to do something illegal,” he added.
At the meeting the chief secretary directed the secretaries concerned that the implementation on Anita Turab Case be ensured in the light of directions and guidelines of the apex court.
The Supreme Court had taken a suo moto notice on the application of Ms Anita Turab – a BS-19 civil servant presently working in the interior ministry – seeking elaboration of constitutional and legal safeguards relating to the working of civil servants.
A three-judge SC bench led by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry ruled that the civil servants, being servants of the State, must not obey any illegal order by any authority.
The secretaries meeting also reviewed the cases of various departments pending in the courts. The chief secretary directed that each secretary should appoint a focal person from every department for Advocate General so that the pending cases in the courts could be immediately pursued. He also directed to dispose of the pending inquiry cases of officers and officials and to reduce the number of cases.
Various proposals put forth by different secretaries regarding speedy disposal of pending cases were also discussed in detail. The Advocate General Punjab, who especially attended the meeting, provided legal guidance to the officers in this regard.

http://www.nation.com.pk/pakistan-ne...illegal-orders

SPSC criticised


THE Sindh Public Service Commission is an independent body entrusted with the job of recruiting deserving youths of the province. However, like many other departments in Pakistan, this body too has not remained an exception in the context of succumbing to political pressures and personal wants.
Most of the hard-working talented young fellows, particularly from the poor, lower-middle class stratum in Sindh long for finding any advertisement by the SPSC to recruit them in different departments.
When such a body becomes ill-managed, even the last hope of the youths is bound to fade away.
Then they are left with no option other than lament their fate. Some of courageous among them do not surrender and are seen knocking at the door of courts to get justice done against their victimisation.
In February 2011, Ramesh Udeshi, a member of SPSC, was found guilty by special anti-corruption court and was sentenced to four years’ imprisonment on corruption charges.Could anyone dare ask our government to be cautious while assigning such important and key posts to such officials?
In yet another incident, the anti-corruption department of Sindh registered cases against a number of high officials on charges of corruption and forgery in the result sheets of candidates for Combined Competitive Examinations (CCE) 2003.
The record of as many as 18 candidates, who were declared qualified in CCE 2003, was found tampered with.
It was also found that their handwritings did not match the papers they pretended to be theirs, besides many other irregularities that have been exposed in the report.
After a thorough scrutiny of the commission’s records and inquiry reports, the Sindh government had to sack those 18 officers in September 2009, though the corruption case against some SPSC officials is still pending in the court.
Strict measures need to be introduced in the commission to save the talented lot of Sindh from being victims of injustice.
A CITIZEN
(Name withheld on request)
Sukkur


Dawn

Increase in salaries in the doldrums

THIS is apropos the news report ‘Increase in salaries of government employees in the doldrums’ (Dec 1).

I would like to clarify the figures given in that news item in order to set the record straight. The figures are exaggerated and are far from ground realities. It was stated that one per cent increase in salaries meant Rs35 billion additional impact for the federal government and Rs70 billion for Punjab. Further, it was stated that it would cost an additional Rs70 billion to all the other three provinces.

If these figures are taken and calculations made, then it comes to an annual salary budget of Rs3,500 billion for the federal government and an annual salary budget of Rs7,000 billion for the Punjab government.

Similarly, it comes to some Rs7,000 billion annual salary budget for all the other three provinces. Actual figures are much less than the stated figures in that particular news item. For example, the total budget, including salaries, of the federal government was almost Rs3,400 billion. So how can the federal government have an annual budget for salary component of Rs3,500 billion only?

M. IRFANULLAH MEHSUD
D. I. Khan

DAWN