ISLAMABAD: The promotion process of senior bureaucrats is still not in sight as the Federal Public Service Commission (FPSC) chairman is yet to be appointed.

The post has been lying vacant since August last year, and under the Civil Servants Act, the Central Selection Board (CSB) that takes up promotion cases of senior bureaucrats has to be headed by a regular FPSC chairman. The federal government convenes a meeting of the CSB twice a year to consider promotion of civil servants from BS-19 to BS-21.

The Cabinet Division on July 28, 2023 convened the CSB meeting to consider the promotion of officers belonging to Pakistan Administrative Service, Police Service of Pakistan, Foreign Service of Pakistan, Information Group, Inland Revenue Service, Pakistan Custom Group, Pakistan Railways, Commerce and Trade Group, Postal Services, Secretariat Group, Economist Group, Military Land and Cantonment Group and ex-cadres.

Section 9, of the Civil Servants Act 1973, deals with the promotions of the civil bureaucracy while subsection (A) of this section states that “civil servant possessing such minimum qualifications as may be prescribed shall be eligible for promotion to a higher post for the time being reserved under the rules for departmental promotion in the service or cadre to which he belongs.”

Promotion of senior bureaucrats on hold as CSB meeting cannot be held

Clause 3 of subsection 2 of this section, however, states: “Promotion to posts in basic payscales 20 and 21 and equivalent shall be made on the recommendations of a selection board which shall be headed by the chairman, Federal Public Service Commission.”

According to this section, the CSB cannot be headed by a member holding temporary charge of the FPSC.

The Federal Public Service Commission Ordinance explains that the chairman and members of the commission are to be appointed by the president.

During the previous CSB meeting, the Establishment Division had introduced a new mechanism of filtering eligibility and as a result, cases of scores of civil servants were deferred for non-submission of asset declaration.

The bureaucrats agitated for depriving them promotion and some of them also went into litigation. However, they were expecting formation of a new government in October or November last year, but the delay in holding of general elections further postponed their promotion.

The bureaucracy was expecting that the new government would convene the CSB meeting, but it did not.

The CSB meeting is not likely to be held in the near future as the post of FPSC chairman has been lying vacant for the last nine months and the Civil Servants Act had made it mandatory that the promotion board must be headed by the FPSC chairman.

When contacted, a senior official of the Cabinet Division said after the death of the commission’s chairman, Maroof Afzal, the previous coalition government appointed Shahid Ashraf Tarar in his place a few weeks before the CSB meeting. Mr Tarar was then inducted as minister in the caretaker setup and since August, the post is lying vacant, he added.

The senior official said the incumbent government would first have to appoint members of the FPSC and then elevate one of them as chairman.

“The CSB meeting can only be convened after this process and other formalities are completed, he added.

Published in Dawn, April 14th, 2024