Govt in defiance mode!
By Khawar Ghumman
Thursday, 29 Apr, 2010
ISLAMABAD: Celebration by dozens of promotion-deprived senior civil servants proved short-lived as within hours of the Supreme Court verdict on Wednesday, clear indications came from the government camp that it was determined to retain key officers on the BS-22 positions to which they were promoted by the prime minister in September last year, but from which they were removed as a result of the court’s decision.
Even though the downgrading of these out of turn promotees from BS-22 to BS-21 was imminent and automatic as a result of the court’s decision, sources said the government had already made up its mind to retain most of its favourite civil servants on the same positions.
Realising the significance of the matter, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani felt it necessary to issue a statement to dispel an impression of any chaos in the rank and file of bureaucracy.
While making it clear that the government would respect the Supreme Court’s verdict, Mr Gilani said that “officers should continue to work and need not be disheartened since the government would look after their interests and justice will be done across the board”.
However, this does not end the dilemma immediately faced by those officials who stand reverted to a lower grade.
Some of them told Dawn that perhaps it would also end with the return home of Premier Gilani from Bhutan. But indications are that all has already been decided and most of those promoted out of turn would continue to serve in the same capacity of federal secretaries and other top position, albeit in a temporary or ‘acting’ capacity.
In September last year, Prime Minister Gilani promoted over 50 officers to the highest grade. Superseded officers challenged the decision in the Supreme Court. The court, accepting their contention that they were ignored by the prime minister for no obvious reasons, through its detailed judgment on Wednesday has demoted all promoted officers who presently are serving at various important positions.
According to the sources, the Prime Minister’s Secretariat had already put in place a contingency plan to handle the situation which could arise after the judgment of the Supreme Court.
Commenting on the decision, former interior secretary Tasnim Noorani said that the promotion of over 50 officers in one go to BS-22 by the prime minister last year was unprecedented and probably it was the number of promotions, not the criterion, which attracted attention of the Supreme Court. Eight to 10 officers are usually promoted at one time to BS-22, he added.
“Under current rules, the prime minister does have the discretion to effect promotions in BS-22. Maybe this time the establishment division has to scratch its head a bit hard to determine grounds of ignored officers that why they were not picked up for promotion, which earlier was not done,” Mr Noorani said.
In reply to another question, the former secretary said: “I think it would not create any problem for the government since it can keep all of them in current positions until reprocessing of next promotions for BS-22 are done under the guidelines of the Supreme Court decision.”
As a result of promotions ordered by the prime minister last year, a number of important positions were filled by the promoted officers starting from his principal secretary to secretaries of interior, information, privatisation commission, petroleum, industries & production and labour.
A number of other positions were also given to the promoted officers, but now after the decision of the Supreme Court the incumbents will look after them as their additional or acting charges until the prime minister fills them with new appointments. These are: special finance secretary, chairman of Federal Board of Revenue, chairman of Capital Development Authority, secretary of minority affairs, tourism secretary, zakat & usher secretary, managing director of Overseas Pakistanis Foundation, chairperson of National Tariff Commission, secretary of special initiative, secretary for inter-provincial coordination division, director general of NARA, secretaries of religious affairs and sports divisions, secretary to the election commission, chief secretaries of Balochistan, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab, managing director of Smeda, social welfare secretary, secretary Wafaqi Mohtasib and housing secretary.
The major chunk of promotions – 20 – went to the district management group. Important positions such as principal secretary (Ms Nargis Sethi,) petroleum secretary (Kamran Lashari) chairman of FBR (Sohail Ahamad) interior secretary (Qamar Zaman) chief secretary of Punjab (Javed Mehmood).
The secretariat group followed with 10 promotions, the Police Services got nine, the foreign service five, audit and accounts service got three, income tax two while commerce and information groups got one each. There was one beneficiary in the National Assembly secretariat, too.
SC verdict rocks PM’s bureaucracy
By Nasir Iqbal
Thursday, 29 Apr, 2010
ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court struck down on Wednesday Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani’s order of promoting 54 bureaucrats to grade 22 and said that the discretion exercised by the prime minister was not in consonance with the well-known principles of fair play and good governance.
“Petitions are accepted, as a consequence whereof notifications (of promoting civil servants) are declared having been passed without taking into consideration merits amongst officers promoted from BS-21 to BS-22,” said the verdict announced by a bench comprising Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry, Justice Chaudhry Ijaz Ahmed and Justice Ghulam Rabbani.
Analysts are of the opinion that the landmark judgment will go a long way in discouraging the use of discretionary powers by governments to elevate their favourites to senior positions and will set guidelines for future promotions.
As a result of the verdict the officers who had been promoted stood relegated to their earlier positions and they would not be entitled to any benefits, perks and privileges accruing from the promotion.
Those who had been promoted out of turn to BS-22 include Prime Minister’s Principal Secretary Nargis Sethi, Petroleum Secretary Kamran Lashari, Punjab Chief Secretary Nasir Mehmood Khan Khosa, Interior Secretary Maj (retd) Qamar Zaman, Election Commission Secretary Ishtiaq Ahmed Khan, FBR Chairman Sohail Ahmed, CDA Chairman Imtiaz Inayat Elahi, Board of Revenue’s Member for Sindh Ghulam Ali Pasha, Anti-Narcotics Secretary Tariq Masood Khan Khosa and Ambassador to China Masood Khan.
It was not clear if the reversal of their grade would immediately affect their current postings.
The prime minister reshuffled almost the entire top brass of the bureaucracy on Sept 4 last year, replacing over a dozen federal secretaries and announcing changes in several ministries by promoting civil servants to grade 22.
Those ignored in the promotions moved the Supreme Court, complaining of massive injustice.
The judgment authored by Justice Ijaz held that the promotions violated constitutional provisions like Articles 4 (right of individuals to be dealt with in accordance with law), 9 (security of person) and 25 (equality of citizens).
It asked the chief executive/competent authority to re-consider the cases of all candidates now holding posts of BS-21 for promotion and also seek guidance from the rules governing the promotion procedure for BS-22 that had been rescinded.
The judgment said it would be in public interest and serve the cause of fairness and justness if the rules rescinded on April 4, 1998, were re-enacted with any modifications deemed fit under the circumstances.
According to the service structure of different occupational group, no concession can be given to any officer in respect of any appointment on the ground only of race, religion, caste, sex, residence or place of birth, the verdict said.
The court noted that the establishment secretary had sent the file before the competent authority for promotions to BS-22 without any forwarding letter showing that cases of all the 267 eligible officers had not been sent in terms of the rules of business. Therefore, the possibility could not be ruled out that the petitioners and their colleagues who were not promoted faced prejudice on account of the files not having been sent in accordance with past practice, it said.
“Good governance is largely dependent upon the upright, honest and strong bureaucracy particularly in written constitution wherein important role of implementation has been assigned to the bureaucracy,” the verdict said.
“The purity of administration to a large extent depends on the purity of the services. Such purity can be obtained only if promotions are made on merit without showing any favouritism or nepotism. It is a time-tested, recognised fact that an institution is destroyed if promotions/appointments are made in violation of law. It will die automatically.”
It said: “The manner in which the instant promotions in the civil services were made could adversely affect the existence of this organ.”
The court observed that honesty, efficiency and incorruptibility were the sterling qualities in all fields of life, including the administration and services. “This criterion seems to have been completely ignored in the instant case,” it said.
“Fifty-four persons were promoted in complete disregard of the rules, destroying the structure of the services and causing anger, anguish, acrimony, dissatisfaction and diffidence. No doubt petitioners/affected officers had no right to be promoted, yet in accordance with Section 9 of the Civil Servants Act, 1973, they were entitled to be considered for promotion,” the order said.
It said withholding promotion of an officer was a major penalty under the Civil Servants (Efficiency and Disciplinary) Rules, 1973. Therefore, consideration of an officer for promotion should be based not only on the relevant law and rules but also on some tangible material which could be lawfully taken into consideration, it said.
Article 4 of the Constitution encompasses the duty of every public functionary to act justly and fairly and a fair manner in the matter of advancement of their career is of paramount importance for good governance, otherwise their commitment to the job, dedication to duty, power to take decision and even integrity might be confined to casualty ward, the order said.
