The performance of the Bureaucracy matters a lot in any government structure. If bureaucrats are not following their rules to manage the department they are leading than the whole government functionality will be affected badly. The Bureaucracy in Pakistan is not as much on the transparency in which it should be stand.
The Federal Govt recently took an initiative in this concern and gave the authority to Central Selection Board (CSB) for the promotion of Bureaucrats on their reputation and performance rather than seniority.
The board’s discretionary marks are now increased from 15 to 30 on which even lower ranked bureaucrats can lead their senior ones on overall marking for performance.
The ruled passed by PM Imran Khan and on 3rd December a notification released regarding the criteria of promotion of civil servants. The criterion is as follows:
- Annual Confidential Report (ACR)
- Specialized Courses Taken by the Individual
- Evaluation by CSB
According to the regulation, the inclusion of 30 arbitrary signatures of CSB members will be more talked about in the official Gazette of Civil Servant Promotion (BPS 18 to BPS 21) Rules 2019. The vocational courses taken by the bureaucrats will increase by 30, while the remaining 40 have been earmarked for the ACRs.
New Marking System
What is the Golden Rule?
Prior to this, promotions were easier for public servants because it relied mostly on the number of courses an individual undertook, and the annual reports made with selection board members.
A bureaucrat can get progress even after getting a zero rating from the CSB. However, under this rule, every public servant will need to get at least 60 to 70 percent of the numbers in the CSB for promotion.
Describing the impact of the new rule, the Prime Minister’s Adviser for Establishment Shahzad Arbab highlighted that increasing the arbitrary power of CSB is vital for promoting merit in the system.
“As per my personal experience, the CSB generally makes an objective assessment as it examines each and every officer for promotion. You cannot gauge eligibility of the officers on annual reports as almost every officer gets an outstanding ACR”
He Pointed outthat the proposal was submitted by the secretary committee, which includes all the federal secretaries and is headed by the cabinet secretary.
Arbab noted that the move is not politically motivated and aims to promote capability.
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