ISLAMABAD: The government is considering introducing a new policy for promotion of Police Service of Pakistan (PSP) officers which is being opposed by senior serving and retired officers.

These officers are of the view that PSP officers in Punjab and Sindh were already polarised towards PML-N and PPP, respectively. The proposed policy will seriously damage the reputation of the PTI government in PSP ranks, they added.

Earlier, the government constituted a committee, comprising all federal secretaries, to make a new policy and standard operating procedure for the promotion of the PSP officers from grade-18 to grade-21, a senior officer on condition of anonymity told Dawn.

Committee comprising federal secretaries recommends changing policy for promotion of officers from grade 18 to 21

A meeting of all 30 secretaries held at Establishment Division on Aug 28 recommended that the old promotion policy should be changed.

The new promotion policy is likely to be submitted to Prime Minister Office for approval next week, he said, adding the proposed policy was also discussed with retired and serving police officers of PSP group who raised concerns about it.

In the new police, it is suggested that the weightage of annual confidential report (ACR) will be reduced from 50 per cent to 40pc marks. Similarly, weightage of training under National Management Course (NMC) and Senior Management Course (SMC) will be reduced from 35pc to 30pc.

The weightage/discretion of Central Selection Board will be doubled from 15pc to 30pc marks, he added.

But senior officers are of the view that the proposed policy would have adverse implications for the government as well as the officers. Outstanding officers get approximately 75pc marks in the NMC. For example, in the recent completed course the topper got 77pc marks.

In this way, an outstanding officer will get 22.5pc marks in training part, the official added. Similarly, very good performance evaluation report will carry 80pc marks.

In case of a new promotion, a very good officer will get 30pc marks per part, and it will make a total of 54.5pc. According to the proposed promotion policy, threshold for promotion of PSP officers is being raised from 72 marks to 80 marks.

A good officer gets 54.5 marks and he would have to get 25.5 marks in CSB to reach the threshold of 80 marks. This is the case of very good officers, whereby others will stand nowhere in the proposed policy.

The officers have the reservation that due to low weightage of ACR, the command of senior officers over juniors will be weakened resulting in low performance in the field as already PSP officers in Punjab and Sindh are polarised towards PML-N and PPP. This policy will damage the goodwill and reputation of the PTI government among the PSP ranks, they added.

It will also give rise to lots of litigation and writ petitions in courts by the officers.

Very few PSP officers will be promoted to next grades. It will also reduce the motivation of PSP officers besides affecting the new entrants into the service. In the end, it will definitely bring the PSP group in CSS exam on a lower side.

Besides, good human capital/talented young people may not opt for PSP, the officer said, adding it would be absolutely in the hands of CSB members to promote the PSP officers.

Whereas during various judgments over the last five years, the Supreme Court of Pakistan intervened to reduce the discretion and make the promotion of officers objective as far as possible, the officer said.

Due to 100pc discretion of the CSB members, it will give rise to lots of corruption and recommendation in promotion process.

The officers recommended the policymakers that instead of revision of the promotion policy, block the promotion of corrupt officers in the PSP or any other group.

A representative of Intelligence Bureau or NAB at senior level may be made part of the CSB to get feedback regarding the honesty of the officers.

The officers were of the view that for the promotion in BS-20 and BS-21 the officer may be called to the CSB and interviewed by the board. If there is any negative observation, he may be confronted so that a real picture could emerge before the board.

Published in Dawn, September 2nd, 2019