Staff Reporter
A meeting of the Former Chief Secretaries’ Committee chaired by former Chief Secretary KP Azam Khan on Tuesday discussed the recently announced Civil Service Reforms in the overall context of improving the service delivery by the officers of the PAS.
The meeting took note of some provisions of the reforms. On the issue of rationalizing the cadre strength/number of posts of PAS in the provinces, the meeting was of the view that it was a settled issue as the federal government and provincial governments had worked out the formula of sharing of the field posts long time back in 1954 and there existed no impelling need to revisit it now.
Besides, reduction of posts (600) in the provinces is likely to cause dissatisfaction among the junior officers who would be denied their professional requirement of orientation of socio-economic and other issues facing the people which are well identified during the field postings, the meeting observed.
Thus some ‘disconnect’ may occur between the practical experience of the officers, in identification of issues existing on ground and their resolution through policy intervention, subsequently, it noted, and urged the government to re-examine the issue in its entirety so as to avoid serious ramifications in the area of administrative management.
The meeting also deliberated on the issue of induction of technocrats in the cadre of PAS.
It was recommended that no such ‘lateral entry’ of other professionals or technical experts be made in the PAS cadre as it will disturb the structure, seniority and promotion prospects of officers belonging to one unified cadre.
