Recommendations include increase in salary and perks, removing guarantee of tenure, introducing performance-based rewards, allowing induction from private sector at higher salaries
Major stakeholders of bureaucratic structure in the country on Tuesday finalised around 80 recommendations for a major reforms package in the civil service structure in the country, asking the government to cut the dead wood out of the decaying bureaucratic structure and replace it with young and target oriented youth to help transform system of government into a lean, smart and deliverable organ of the state.
The concluding session of the two-day workshop on Civil Services Reforms was presided over by Minister for Planning, Development and Reforms Ahsan Iqbal while Secretary Establishment Nadeem Hassan Asif and Secretary Planning Hassan Nawaz Tarrar were also present.
The recommendations for reforms will be finalized by the secretaries of the establishment and planning divisions after which the federal cabinet and parliament will take up the package for approval to give it political ownership and implement the new reforms by January 2016.
The participants asked the government to take necessary initiatives to help transform the bureaucratic branches of the government to ensure fast delivery and good governance. Accountability of the officers is a major recommendation along with raising their perks and salary packages based on the market needs.
The participants recommended that the education eligibility for CSS exams should be enhanced to 16 years of education raising it from the existing 14 years, besides molding its curriculum according to the contemporary needs.
The participants also called for a review of the roles of FPSC/PPSC in human resource management in government along modern management lines so that the induction tests could be transformed into more specific and specialised ones in each sector and discipline rather than the existing generalised test. Moreover, it was recommended that there may be complete autonomy of FPSC/PPSCs and that induction of members from private sector in the selection process may also be possible.
The recommendations also called for bringing in reforms so that Reward and Regret models could be introduced in which those who work smart and hard could be given rewards and incentives while those who fail to meet targets would be sent packing.
It was also recommended that the civil servants coming from private sector would have double salary but their contracts must be linked to their performance and delivery. It was also agreed that the public sector needed fresh blood and innovative systems while their capacity building should be ensured by modern trainings.
It was also agreed that the Establishment Division should be renamed as human resource development/management ministry and its scope should be transformed from appointing/transfer to hiring, capacity building, performance monitoring and reward recommendation.
Ahsan Iqbal urged to introduce state awards system on the pattern of awards to army officers so that able civil servants could also be given state awards every year on best performance and national service. He said that there must be a pyramid structure similar to the armed forces as no officer has a inborn right to reach to grade-22 and this position should be earned by the officers themselves.
It was also recommended that beside generalist cadre, new and specialised cadres should be introduced so that the civil servants could be recruited for professional jobs like information technology, engineering, and as journalists and analysts etc.
It was also recommended that the bureaucracy must be made lean and smart while targeted tasks should be given to each officer with strict monitoring of their duties. For this purpose, it was proposed that quarterly performance reports should be prepared so that no one could influence the ACRs.
The participants also advised to merge the ministries to make governance efficient and smooth.
It was also recommended that creation of Senior Executive Services must be at BS 20 level and hierarchy structure should not be more than three tiers instead of six. It was also proposed that for creation of national executive service and a provision of fair play for each individual, there must not be constitutional guarantee for security of tenure but it should be linked with performance. The tenure of federal secretary should not be less than five years after promotion in BS-22.
The recommendations said that the number of group may be reviewed by merging all cadre and ex-cadre positions and creation of specialized cadre. Cluster exam for each group/cadre should be held. Combination of subjects could be changed as the groups are not optimal and the books as well as the syllabi of the CSS/PPSC examination should be revised as both the editions of the books and the syllabi are outdated. Psychological tests should not be given more weight while screening test for initial scrutiny may be introduced. Other recommendations included separate recruitment/selection system for police service, generalist and specialists, ban on ad hoc lateral entry -– selection shall only be through competitive exam, there may be selection of officers for mandatory training which should be made after qualification of exam as being carried out in Pak Army, age factor should be considered whilst sending officers for training like it is done in the armed forces, and a 15-day refresher or targeted training for each officer/official each year should be mandatory.
The recommendations called for monetization of perks and review of salary structure so that the salaries may be raised to the market level and inefficient officers may be sent home. Financial award should be linked with performance so that poor performers are punished while good performers are given incentives.
