ISLAMABAD: The government has reformed the Pay and Pension Commission to study and evaluate the basic pay scale system of government employees’ current salaries throughout the federation including the provincial government and recommend measures for its improvement and uniformity.
A circular of the Finance Division said that the prime minister has revised the composition ToRs of the Pay and Pension Commission and made Zafar Ahmad Khan from the private sector, Ex-CEO PIA, PTCL, ENGRO, as its chairman.
TOR of the commission would be to study the adequacy of existing BPS system and to evaluate the current salaries of government employees throughout the federation including the provincial government, and recommend measures for its improvement and uniformity.
The commission would also make recommendations for the streamlining of existing classification from BPS 1-22. Study the separation of existing basic pay scales for specialised departments/occupations/cadres, review of special scales such as management grades, management position scales (MP scales), special professional pay scales (SPPS), project pay scales etc, and propose measures for uniformity and improvement.
The commission TORs also included review of admissible regular allowances, special incentives and all other allowances with a view to highlight prevalent distortions and recommend corrective measures as well as to review existing perks and facilities and make recommendations, including possibility of their monetization and to align the compensation of the government employees, both the federal and provincial, with the market over a period of time.
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This includes the salary and monetization of the compensation.
In this regard, to propose a system of incorporating pay for performance concept as the basis for future increases to propose measures as to how to merge the present allowances and ad-hoc allowances into the pay scales, to propose measures to bring uniformity in the present salaries being drawn by various divisions of the government in consonance with the professional expertise of the employees, to research international best practices of how civil servants are remunerated and how pensions are paid; especially with regards to the countries that are in the region and similar to Pakistan but better performers and highlight existing distortions and anomalies in the pension scheme and recommend remedial measures.
Verify the sustainability of the current model after critically evaluating future liabilities through an actuarial study.
The Pay and Pension Commission would also evaluate alternate systems of pension such as defined contribution and setting up of pension funds in light of international best practices and recommend a system with clear timelines that is more efficient and sustainable, considering the available resources, to review the existing incentive regime (honorarium and special reward recommend improvement in it, to evaluate and recommend legislative measures to protect and streamline, pay, pension and allowances regime for government employees, the Commission may, if so desired by the government, make interim, recommendations to provide interim relief, pending the submission of its final report and shall have the power to co-opt any person or agency to assist it in its deliberations.
The members of the commission included Amyn Malik, of Fulcrum (Pvt) Ltd, KPMG, Salman Hussain, AF Ferguson & Co, Nazrat Bashir, retired civil servants, Dr Masood Akhtar Chaudhry, Mehfooz Ali Khan Vice Admiral Shah Sohail Masood (retired), Vice Admiral Pakistan Navy, MD Bahria Foundation Ex-Officio members of the Pay and Pension Commission included secretaries, Finance Division, Establishment Division, Defence Division, Finance Department (Government of Punjab), and Finance Department (Government of Sindh); Member Secretary, Finance Department Member, (Government of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa), Secretary Finance Department (Government of Balochistan) Member, Secretary Finance Department (Government of AJK), Secretary Finance Department (Government of Gilgit-Baltistan), an officer of BPS-21 of the Auditor General of Pakistan, an officer of BPS-21 of the Controller General of Accounts, Director-General PP&A.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2021
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