ISLAMABAD, Dec 30: The government’s indecision on appointing new secretaries on a number of vacant positions is causing problems in the smooth functioning of relevant ministries and divisions, Dawn has learnt.

Secretaries to the establishment and cabinet divisions and the principal secretary to the prime minister are the three most important positions for which the government has so far been unable to find suitable replacements.

Three more BPS-22 officers – Secretary Education Jehangir Bashar, National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) Chairman Khalid Saeed, and Secretary Youth Affairs Ashfaq Mahmood are also retiring on Wednesday (December 31) which would further add to the governance issues.

The government has created five new divisions – Special Initiatives, Zakat and Ushr, Postal Services, Livestock and Dairy Development, and States and Frontier Regions. However, it is yet to appoint secretaries to look after their official businesses.

Ministries of the science and technology, and religious affairs will also lose their secretaries, whereas the secretary commerce has just retired. The commerce ministry is currently being looked after by an additional secretary.

Federal secretary of a ministry acts as its principal accounting officer, whereas, minister looks after only the policymaking issues.

It’s the federal secretary who runs the official business of a ministry and is held responsible when it comes to the ministry’s performance.

When asked, a senior bureaucrat argued that due to government’s preoccupation with the ongoing tension with India, it could not pay due heed towards the governance issues.

However, the official said, all these vacant positions were needed to be filled in as soon as possible for the smooth functioning of the relevant ministries.

Though the officials are taking care of day-to-day business under their acting heads, still in the absence of regular secretaries, it is the ministry which suffers in the end, a senior official told Dawn.

“Of course, secretary acts like a backbone of a ministry and its official hierarchy remains incomplete in case of his/her absence,” the official responded to a query.

Meanwhile, some officers believe it is the reported differences between the president and the prime minister which are causing this uncalled-for delay in the filling of such key positions.