An unwelcome change

Overhaul of the bureaucracy for the attainment of its policy objectives and to make it more responsive to public needs has figured prominently in PTI government's reform agenda. The change under way is anything but progressive. The Central Selection Board (CSB) is being handed extraordinary discretionary power for promotion of senior civil servants (BPS-18 to BPS-21). Whereas previously the CSB had just 15 discretionary marks out of a total of 100, that number has now been doubled to 30 at the cost of annual confidential reports (ARCs) and professional courses, which have been reduced from 50 marks to 40 and from 35 to 30, respectively. In the past, officers receiving 80 marks could get promoted with or without CSB's discretionary favour. As per the new rules notified by the Establishment Division with the Prime Minister's approval, despite scoring 90 percent marks under the heads of ACR and professional course, officers cannot rise to a higher grade unless they obtain 70-80 percent marks from the CSB.

Prime Minister's Adviser on Establishment Shahzad Arbab, of course, has defended the new rule, saying the ACRs are not a yardstick to gauge an officer's efficiency, adding the incredible assertion that in the case of civil servants almost every officer receives an outstanding ACR. Neither seems to be important, according to his lights, professional courses that are supposed to enhance competence and efficiency. Only the CSB, he said, is the right forum to ascertain the competence of an officer and eligibility for promotion. This is a hark back to the criteria instituted back in 2014 by the previous government, according to which the CSB could refuse to give a civil servant promotion if he/she failed to secure at least three out of five marks for "integrity, general reputation/perception" - all relative terms and indefinable in concrete form. No wonder the courts had struck down discretionary power exercised by the CSB on these pretexts. The old-new criteria for promotions surely will allow this government to stack senior bureaucracy with favourite, pliable officers though not necessarily professionally qualified ones. To say the least, it is sad that this should come from a government that talks so much about introducing meritocracy in all walks of the national endeavour.

Handing the CSB the power to make or break careers amounts to giving an open licence to nepotism - something Prime Minister Imran Khan has been vowing to root out from this society. Promotions and postings that are influenced by kinship or political connections can further deepen a pervasive sense of grievance among the smaller provinces having inadequate representation in higher civil service positions. Only a transparent and merit-based process of elevations can bring about the change the PTI government has been promising the people.