ISLAMABAD: Amid an inordinate delay in the promotion of over 400 senior bureaucrats, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif is expected to consider the recommendations of the Central Selection Board (CSB) to clear the backlog in a few days.

The last promotions to top bureaucratic slots were made in May 2015, following which scores of officers superseded by the CSB obtained restraining orders from the courts. The case is still pending adjudication in various tiers of the judiciary.

Sources privy to the development said the Prime Minister Office was likely to approve a summary on the promotions in a couple of days. They said the matter was delayed due to the prime minister’s other engagements, including official visits abroad.

Establishment Division Secretary Syed Tahir Shahbaz confirmed that the prime minister might issue an order on the CSB’s recommendations in a few days. It was normal for the PM to take 30 to 40 days to consider the decision on such recommendations, therefore speculations about a delay were baseless, he said.

According to the directives issued by the prime minister from 2006 onwards, it was mandatory for the government to hold a CSB meeting at least twice a year, former establishment secretary Raja Hassan Abbas said.

In this perspective, he added, at least three CSB meetings could not be convened due to litigation over the promotions, which resulted in the backlog.

Due to the unwarranted delay, some officers who would have been promoted had retired after attaining the age of superannuation.

On Nov 28, 2016, the Supreme Court directed the federal government to convene the CSB to consider the promotion of all eligible officers. Subsequently, the CSB was convened mid-December, which recommended the promotion of 400 officers from BPS-19 and BPS-20 to the next grades.

However, bureaucrats whose promotions were due since 2015 faced another delay as the Prime Minister Office has still kept the matter pending.

Dawn spoke to some of the officers whose cases were in the pipeline and a majority of them expressed resentment over the way the PM Office was handling their promotions.

The bottleneck also led to speculation among the officers, who attributed it to different factors. For example, an officer of the Secretariat Group said ‘decision-makers’ in the PM Office were not happy over the promotions and wanted the CSB to review them.

Moreover, some officers said the PM Office had referred the cases to the Intelligence Bureau (IB) for officers’ security clearance, which was taking some time.

They said the indecisiveness of the authorities was affecting the otherwise smooth working of civil servants, who were concerned over the delayed promotions and not concentrating on their official assignments.

An officer of the Pakistan Administrative Service (PAS) said that since 11 officers of 13th and 14th Common (batches) — whose promotions had been deferred — were being recommended for 43 seats of BPS-21, certain influential officers from the 15th Common, posted in the PM Office, were not happy with the decision.

In a recent calling attention notice, MNA retired Capt Mohammad Safdar, the prime minister’s son-in-law, criticised the PM Office and particularly PM’s Secretary Fawad Hassan Fawad, for taking decisions regarding the promotion of government officers in grade 20 and above on the basis of his own personal opinion. He suggested that a parliamentary committee be formed to deal with the promotion of officers in grade 20 and above. He said the decisions should be taken on the basis of the officers’ performance and track record.

The CSB had recommended a total 46 officers from the 13th to 20th Common batches against 43 seats in BPS-21.

Another officer said that of the 11 officers from the 13th and 14th Common batches, the cases of five were deferred in May 2015 due to “integrity” issues. He said that certain quarters still wanted to block the promotion of officers from these batches because, in case they were promoted, they would be eligible for further promotion to BPS-22 in the upcoming CSB due to their seniority. Hence, officers of the 15th Common and others may not be considered for promotion to BPS-22, he claimed. He said the officers of the Police Service of Pakistan, who had been waiting for promotions, blamed the 11 officers of 13th and 14th Common for delaying promotions.

Published in Dawn February 7th, 2017