Dr Ishrat Hussain, chairman, National Commission on Government Reforms (NCGR) and former SBP governor, said on Thursday that the government should adhere to merit and proper regional representation in civil services to put in place good governance in the country.
"We are quite clear that merit with regional representation should be made a part of the selection criteria, which is the key to resolve issues," he said, while addressing a press conference when his attention was drawn towards violation of criteria in civil services.
He said that the Commission had already recommended that the political appointments in all the universities should be done away with, which is being implemented and now this procedure would be adopted in other high-ranking appointments.
After a two-day marathon deliberations of NCGR, Dr Ishrat Hussain also floated a theory that corruption in government departments could not be eliminated until provision of an attractive salary package to the civil servants.
"It is my personal opinion that if we offer attractive remuneration package to the civil servants, some 80-90 percent of them will not induldge in corruption. However, 10 percent of them will remain corrupt, but it will be easy to catch them," he added.
The Commission has constituted five committees to propose measures for reforms in the areas of education, health care, police, land revenue, land records and Tehsil and municipal administrations to benefit the common man, he said.
The focus of NCGR is to start reforms from bottom to top, in this regard, he said the Commission would take up at first reforms in system to minimise the problems faced by common man in dealing with Patwari, Thanedar, police, land record and land revenue registrar and Tehsil and municipal administrations across the country.
Dr Ishrat Hussain said the Commission would also recommend possible measures for providing relief to common man in dealing with these sectors to a high-powered board co-chaired by the President and the Prime Minister after every three months.
He, however, informed that the scope of the reforms in federal and provincial areas would also be extended to the cantonment boards of the country in consultation with the defence ministry.
The Commission comprised Dr Ishrat Hussain, as chairman, whereas its independent members are Shams Qasim Lakha, Shafqat Ali Jamot, Dr Abdul Malik Kasi, Shahid Hafiz Kardar, Farooq Rehmatullah, and Major General Asad Jahangir as secretary and the ex-officio members are Secretary Cabinet, Secretary Finance and Director General NCGR as member and secretary.