ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) has linked the actualisation of recent promotions of top government servants on the recommendations of the Central Selection Board (CSB) to the final outcome of ongoing proceedings before the court.

The “impugned notifications [of promotions] shall be subject to the final adjudication of the petitions”, said a written order released by the IHC on Wednesday.

An IHC division bench comprising Chief Justice Athar Minallah and Justice Lubna Saleem Pervez has clubbed the identical petitions filed by the superseded officers of the Police Service of Pakistan, Pakistan Administrative Service, Customs, Inland Revenue Service and other cadres and fixed them for hearing on April 27.

The court in the written order on the petitions of the officials of Inland Revenue Service, who have challenged the CSB’s recommendations, allowed 14 officers to retain their promoted positions but made it clear that it was subject to the final order.

The petitioners have challenged the recommendations made by the CSB in its meeting on Jan 27 to 29 and also raised questions over the promotion rules promulgated by the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf government in December last year.

Petitioners have challenged CSB recommendations and raised questions over promotion rules promulgated last year

On Dec 3, 2019 the Establishment Division with the approval of Prime Minister Imran Khan notified in the official gazette the Civil Servants Promotion (BPS-18 to BPS-21) Rules, 2019.

According to the new rules, the CSB, which earlier had 15 out of 100 marks, now has 30 marks on its discretion. In addition to the CSB’s 30 marks, 40 marks are reserved for the annual confidential reports (ACRs) and remaining 30 for professional courses.

Earlier, the courts had struck down the discretionary power of the CSB that was being exercised on the pretext of “integrity of civil servants”.

The new rules suggest that the CSB members would also be free to consider marks on the basis of intelligence reports as they specifically mention that for promotion to top posts, the CSB can take into account the information received against the officer concerned.

Before the introduction of the new rules, the passing marks for a candidate belonging to the Pakistan Administrative Service were 75 and for the rest of the cadres 72. These marks could be obtained through outstanding performance and successful completion of professional courses at the National Defence University and administrative college.

Previously, there were 50 marks for the ACRs, 35 for professional courses and 15 for the CSB. If a candidate secured 80pc marks there were chances of his promotion even if the CSB would not give him any mark.

However, under the recently notified rules, an officer despite getting 90pc marks in the heads of the ACR and professional courses cannot get a promotion without obtaining 70-80pc marks from the CSB.

The rules have 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.

As per the rules, “for promotion to senior management posts, a civil servant must fulfil qualifying service, eligibility threshold, qualifications, relevance of experience, training and top management potential. Since officers promoted to this level may be called upon to hold independent charge of a ministry/division or to head a major corporation, the board should satisfy itself about the officer’s maturity, balance and ability to assume such top management position even at a short notice”.

The CSB in its meetings held on Jan 27 to 29 recommended the promotions of the officers of various service cadres and the prime minister approved these promotions last month.

However, the leftover officials challenged the outcome of the CSB’s meeting, saying that the board had applied the controversial rules which empowered it to pick and choose on the basis of personal liking and disliking of the members.

According to the petitions, the Supreme Court has already set aside the arbitrary powers of the CSB but the last year’s promotion rules have revived these powers of the board.

In 2014 the Establishment Division had 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”.

In 2015, the IHC declared an office memorandum dated Feb 10, 2014 that gave a veto power to the CSB ‘illegal’.

The Supreme Court in 2017 upheld the IHC’s judgement and set aside the arbitrary powers of the CSB.

During the hearing of the petitions against the recent promotions, Establishment Division Secretary Ejaz Munir appeared before the court and sought a short adjournment to file a reply in the matter.

Subsequently, the court adj­ourned hearing till April 27.

Published in Dawn, April 23rd, 2020