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IMAGINE placing a goldfish in a bowl at the entrance of your home and thinking it would achieve the same results as expected of a bona fide watchman. Our expectation of Pakistan Administrative Service officers to keep an eye on the size of the naan, manage Ramazan Sasta bazars or negotiate with local prayer leaders on some religiously sensitive issue is no different.
The officers have neither trained for such jobs nor are they inclined to do them. They are not educated in public dealing during any of the professional trainings they literally waste their time on. These trainings touch upon subjects that mostly have little to no connection with their field. The majority of PAS trainees come from highly urban backgrounds having studied in the best universities in the country and even abroad. The trainings are focused on academics while the scholarships (eg Chevening, Fulbright, Australian Award) they get by virtue of being in service are sabbaticals with little relevance to their jobs back home. They are networking opportunities for the benefit of the host country. What we tend to ignore is that an academically brilliant individual can be poor at administration.
An academically brilliant individual can be poor at administration.
Recently, the Sialkot assistant commissioner was at the receiving end of harsh criticism by special assistant to the Punjab chief minister, Ms Firdous Ashiq Awan, for not ensuring better quality of fruits and vegetables in a Ramazan bazar set up by the government. The highly condescending attitude towards the assistant commissioner cannot be condoned, but the issue of poor service delivery that was pointed out cannot be ignored either.
Is the assistant commissioner trained to do this kind of job? In fact, a more pertinent question would be, is she inclined towards this kind of job? Is it what she thought she would be doing when she passed the CSS exam with flying colours? Is it a case of role distance — a term that denotes “the detachment of the performer from the role he or she is performing”? There is a definite gap, rather a gulf, between the expectations of young civil servants and the reality which naturally leads to inefficiency as well as indifference.
The only true function, or the original job description of the assistant commissioner, is related to revenue administration as defined under the Land Revenue Act 1967. All other functions that have been thrust upon the assistant commissioner, such as those defined in the Civil Administration Act, polio duties, Muharram activities, Ramazan bazars, etc are actually an extension of the secondary functions of the district administration which deals with general administration. But now, matters seem to have gone beyond the original job description.
The question is, if not them then who would perform these duties? Effective local bodies are the answer. Since local body members are elected from within the community, they identify themselves with the community and are accessible to it. Tasks like polio campaigns and Sasta bazars can be better managed by them as they know the shopkeepers and households. They can relate to their problems and concerns, and most importantly, are accountable to them.
Holding civil servants answerable on account of public complaints is almost impossible. Nobody is willing to pursue the complaints and the judge is usually a civil servant who prefers to align with a member of his tribe rather than with the public.
On the contrary, there is a time-tested system of accountability in place for elected representatives. Even in the recent Sialkot incident, the contrast in the attitude of the civil servant and politician was visible in how they reacted to the poor quality of fruit in the bazaar. The public representative
was perturbed because she has to face the public in the next election and will be answerable to them while the civil servant was least bothered as sooner or later she would be transferred to a new assignment. The evaluation report of civil servants known as the annual confidential report is dependent not on public opinion but the opinion of the boss, who often thinks of subordinates as part of the tribe.
Lastly, the institution of deputy commissioner dates back to the British era when the DC was a representative of the British Raj. He would not be held accountable for public complaints. Those who cared for the public did so because of their own ethics rather than the job requirement which was ensuring law and order by whatever means necessary and making sure that the sovereignty of the Raj was never challenged. Times have changed. This transition from masters to servants is a harsh reality check for someone who joined the civil service chasing that clout which the deputy commissioner of yore exuded. It has led to frustration in the ranks and consequently poor service delivery.
The writer is a former civil servant.
Twitter: @SyedSaadat55
Published in Dawn, May 25th, 2021
