Laraib Nisar
The Federal Government announced major reforms to the Civil Service of Pakistan on January 20th, 2021, in an effort to improve the system of governance and create ease for the citizens. Federal Minister for Education and Professional Training Shafqat Mahmood addressed a press conference in Islamabad in his capacity as the head of the Cabinet Committee on Institutional Reforms, stating that there were many factors to improve the system of governance but “one very important part is reform of civil services”. He said Prime Minister Imran Khan had a “personal interest” in the reforms and revolutionizing the bureaucratic system had been a major focus of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI)’s administrative plan. He further added that PM Imran Khan himself contributed to the cause along with the help of his office.
Reforms were announced in six major areas including Civil Servants Promotion (BS-18 to BS-21) Rules, 2019, Civil Servants (Directory Retirement from Service) Rules, 2020, Efficiency and Discipline Rules, 2020, Revised MP Scale Policy 2020, Rotation Policy 2020, and Rationalization of cadre strength — induction in PAS, with the objective to introduce more accountability.
In the promotions sector, a categorically defined appointing authority has been set to look after the technicalities related to promotions of the already serving civil servants. Moreover, weightages of different promotion appraisal aspects have been changed in such a way that the annual performance reports weigh 40 per cent while the training reports and evaluation interview of the officials counts for 30 per cent each.
While addressing the issue of direct retirement and the mechanism to retire a civil servant before their tenure ends, Mr. Shafqat Mehmood pointed toward the careless attitude shown by some of the civil servants who do not perform well still get to occupy significant positions in the civil service. The policy calls for direct retirement of individuals who will hold three annual reports of average or below average performance, are deficient and weak in character, and are involved in corruption and other malign practices etc. He further added that individuals who will not work well or will show other faults will be “sifted” by examining their professional records and by closely observing their performance.
In efforts to resolve the issues leading to substantial delays in inquiries against officers, the reforms have set a timeline of 105 days for the complete process of inquiry and for the announcement of the final decision. The policy has dedicated 14 days to initiate a response to the charges submitted against an individual. The next 60 days will be designated to the inquiry committee to come up with a final decision, and lastly, the authority will give the verdict on punishment within the next 30 days.
Moreover, while discussing the issue of minimum rotations displayed by the officers of Pakistan Administrative Service (PAS) and Pakistan Police Service, the Minister announced that the new policy is designed in a way that rotation has now been linked with promotion i.e. officers who won’t rotate regularly and will stick to one province only, will not be promoted to grade BS-21. This policy has been brought into effect from January 1, 2021.
Lastly, the minister announced the decision to reduce the strength of the PAS so a chance could be created for other services to increase job openings and hence enhance their strength.
It is no secret that the Bureaucratic system has been criticized as one which exonerates corruption, does not exhibit meritocracy, does not prioritize deliverance and is still continuing the colonial-era legacy with its commitment to structure rather than performance. However, the recent announcement of Civil Services Reforms by the PTI government is a silver lining in the cloud. The reforms are expected to bring noteworthy changes in the patterns of the bureaucratic system as they are designed to increase transparency on performance and have improved evaluation methods by replacing the former hierarchical authority with new appointing authorities.
These reforms are good and are bound to increase accountability and hence steer the civil service clear for a while. The problem of the bureaucracy is not the absence of rules but the culture of slow and inefficient work. With the reforms been announced, the government will need to keep a check on the appointing authorities to ensure that the rules are being followed indiscriminately; otherwise, that same culture could leach into the accountability mechanisms as well. An important thing that can be done to enhance the application of the policies defined in the reforms is to make the enquiry process in civil services more public. This will help in holding the authorities accountable not only in front of the government, but also in front of the public. Additionally, forming an analytical framework for civil service reform, or a theory of change, would allow experts to identify the weaknesses in the system and help determine the actions that would improve its quality and efficiency.
The author Laraib Nisar is a Defense and Strategic Studies’ graduate, working as a Research Associate in Center for Research and Security Studies (CRSS) Islamabad.
