The Supreme Court on Wednesday accepted for regular hearing a plea by the Provincial Civil Service (PCS) officers against the alleged exploitation of services at the hands of District Management Group (DMG) officers and served notices on the Establishment Division secretary and all four chief secretaries for the submission of their reply by July 4. A three-member SC bench of Justice Mian Shakirullah Jan, Justice Anwar Zaheer Jamali and Justice Tariq Parvez was hearing a petition filed by PCS officers against DMG officers.
Lawyers for the petitioners submitted that DMG officers were deputed in the provinces and their appointments affected the promotions of PCS officers. They said the posting of DMG officers in provinces should be declared unlawful and the responsible DMG officers should be penalised for violating the constitution and law for suppressing the provincial services. The petition was filed under Article 184(3). Some senior lawyers said it was for the first time in the history of Pakistan that a constitutional petition had been filed against the alleged exploitation of provincial services at the hands of DMG officers.
The PCS officers have challenged the legality of posting of the DMG officers in the provinces on the grounds that they belong to the federal service, therefore, are ineligible for posting in the provinces and in districts. The prayer has been made on the premise that posting of the federal officers in the provinces can only be made under agreement between the provinces and the federation as envisaged in Civil Service of Pakistan (Composition & Cadre) Rules 1954 through which the provinces surrender specific posts for an all-Pakistan service to be constituted of officers from DMG and the PCS. However, in violation of rules, no such service has been constituted and the unilateral posting of federal officers in the provinces is being done without any legal justification.
The PCS officers have further prayed that the DMG officers have occupied all important posts in the provinces, completely marginalising the provincial services. Taking advantage of their preponderant position in the provinces, they have manoeuvred such rules and policies that have resulted in exploitation of PCS officers in their own provinces, the plea said. The petitioners said the condition in Punjab was the worst, where all provincial services put together had a negligible share of three secretaries from 43 administrative secretaries, while the PCS share was zero. Likewise, all posts of commissioners in the provinces were under occupation of DMG officers.