All Pakistan Provincial Civil Services Association (APPCSA) has rejected the government’s decision of increasing the number of federal bureaucrats on provincial posts by three times and pledged to challenge the decision in high courts.
APPCSA calls reforms encroachment upon the right of the provincial bureaucracy.
The reaction by APPCSA made the Special Secretary to the Prime Minister on Establishment Shehzad Arbab to issue a statement in a bid to ease the tension between the provincial and federal bureaucracies.
On March 12, the Establishment Division amended Rule 17 of the Civil Service of Pakistan (Composition and Cadre) Rules, 1954, and changed the composition of the provincial bureaucracy. According to the amendment, the number of federal bureaucrats on provincial posts increased from 299 to 1,121.
Arbab explicated the changes in the cadre schedule of the Pakistan Administrative Service (PAS) and said that they were made keeping in view the unwieldy cadre strength of the service. He said it was an attempt to rationalise the cadre strength in line with available officers.
APPCSA spokesperson Tariq Mehmood Awan said that the association had rejected the so-called reforms and termed them encroachment upon the right of the provincial bureaucracy.
Naveed Shehzad Mirza, deputy commissioner of Hafizabad, and the incumbent president of the Punjab Management Service Officers Association, said this amendment was made in violation of Article 240 of the Constitution which deals with the bureaucracy.
A joint declaration issued by the presidents of the Management Services Officers Association of Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan, Naveed Shahzad Mirza, Farhatullah Marwat and Tariq Ramzan, respectively, denounced the notification of the Establishment Division.
