LAHORE, May 23: Chief Secretary Javed Mahmood on Friday admonished administrative secretaries while chairing the first meeting of the Provincial Selection Board after finding that promotion cases of many officials were not properly processed.

The meeting was to consider promotion cases of 300 officials of 15 departments.

Official sources said the chief secretary got annoyed when he found that the dossiers of officials of communication and works, irrigation and agriculture departments contained certain audit paras (objections).

How, the chief secretary reportedly asked, he could examine the promotion cases when the secretaries concerned had not properly screened as to who was eligible for promotion and who was not.

He reportedly gave instructions with regard to the preparation of promotion dossiers and postponed the meeting.

Meanwhile, according to a handout issued by the provincial government, the board decided that all departments would develop objective criteria for evaluation of different streams of officers based on certain tangible and transparent milestones.

These evaluations would then be examined in the light of the input given by different regulatory departments like planning and development, finance, board of revenue, and services and general administration. Each one of these departments will be responsible for providing their input on the basis of measurable instruments.

The board also decided not to consider any case in the meeting because of the fact that meaningful evaluation of the officers proposed for promotion was not possible in the absence of a tangible evaluation network.

While reviewing the working papers, the board observed that recommendations were made without any meaningful examination of the performance of the individuals and it appeared that the administrative departments had virtually developed no parameters for evaluation of their officers and their subsequent recommendations to the PSB.

It was also observed that over a period of time the PSB had virtually assumed the role of a silent sanctioning authority performing without any initiative of its own. As a consequence, people were not being evaluated for their work, competence, integrity or even basic qualifications and only criteria of fulfilment of minimum length of service was being adopted.

This had made the institutions non-competitive with no means of reward and punishment, which are considered one of the most important tools of governance.

The board further observed that departments needed to develop meaningful criteria for evaluation of their officers in different positions, cadres and streams and objectively examine each one of the recommended officer against the same parameters.

It was also observed that promotions should become an effective tool for improved performance and service delivery of different institutions. Various officers nominated as permanent members of the board for providing an evaluation were not providing due input.

The board decided that its meetings would now be held regularly even for consideration of cases of a single department provided the working paper prepared by it met the criteria set by the PSB.