ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Tuesday suspended promotion of 14 officers of Inland Revenue Service of the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) in BS-21 after some officers raised questions over recommendations of the Central Selection Board (CSB) for these promotions.

The 14 officers promoted to BS-21 on March 20 were Dr Farrukh Ansari, Sajidullah Siddiqui, Aftab Imam, Tauqeer Ahmed Memon, Shahid Iqbal Baloch, Ahmed Shuja Khan, Zulfiqar Hussain Khan, Bakhtiar Mohammad, Mohammad Qasim Samad Khan, Anwarul Haq, Ahmed Shahab, Badruddin Ahmed Quraishi, Ambreen Iftikhar and Nabila Faran Baig.

These officers are working as chief commissioners and directors general in different regions of the FBR.

The petitioners who challenged promotion of their colleagues also hold senior positions in the FBR.

The petitioners alleged that the CSB, which convened its meeting from Jan 27 to 29 this year, superseded the officers in a whimsical manner.

Central Selection Board accused of ignoring petitioners in ‘whimsical manner’

A petitioner, Mohammad Imtiaz, at present posted as the chief commissioner of Regional Tax Office, Sargodha, said that all promoted officers were junior to him.

He contended in the petition that he had an unblemished service record and was fit for promotion in BS-21. He, however, said that the CSB members deprived him of promotion and superseded him not because of his service record but for the reason of their personal information about him.

The petitioner further contended that he had been superseded and denied promotion contrary to the law laid down by the Supreme Court.

The CSB for the promotion of civil servants applied the Promotion Rules promulgated on Dec 3, 2019, by the PTI government which allow 30 discretionary marks to CSB members.

The new rules also mandated the CSB members to be free to consider marks of candidates on the basis of intelligence reports as it has been specifically mentioned in the rules that for the promotion to top posts, the CSB can take into account the information received against officers from intelligence agencies.

These rules changed the ratio of 100 marks as contrary to the earlier practice, where the CSB had 15 per cent marks. The Rules of 2019 have doubled the power of the CSB by keeping 30pc marks at the discretion of the board members.

Earlier, the passing marks for a candidate were 75 for the Pakistan Administrative Service (PAS) and 72 for other cadres. These could be obtained through outstanding performance and successful completion of professional courses in the National Defence University and administrative college.

There were 50 marks for Annual Confidential Reports (ACRs) and 35 for professional courses. If a candidate secured 80pc marks there were chances of his promotion even if the CSB did not give him any mark.

However, under the new rules introduced by the PTI government, an officer, despite getting 90pc marks of ACRs and courses could not be promoted without obtaining 70 to 80pc marks from the CSB.

The division of marks is 40 for ACRs, 30 for courses and 30 for the CSB.

The new rules set the minimum threshold of 60 marks for promotion in BS-18, 65 for BS-19, 70 for BS-20 and 75 for BS-21.

In 2014, the Establishment Division introduced the criteria that empowered the CSB to reject promotion of a civil servant if he/she failed to secure at least three out of five marks for “integrity/general reputation/perception”. The CSB denied promotions to scores of senior bureaucrats on the basis of this criterion by invoking the integrity-related clause.

These officers initially challenged the discretionary marks of the CSB in the Supreme Court and ultimately the unfettered powers of the CSB had been set aside by the top court.

Published in Dawn, April 22nd, 2020