ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan is expected to chair a high-level board meeting regarding the promotion of senior bureaucrats to the top-most grade amid serious legal challenges, reported a local media outlet.
It has been reported that the meeting has been called by the establishment division to seek the PM’s approval for the promotion.
The officers that are on the list for promotion include the current BS-21 officers and promote them to grade-22 without taking into account the current situation.
Earlier, the Supreme Court had ordered restoration of the seniority of the officers who had been promoted in January 2018 after being denied promotion to BS-21 over the past three years.
In 2016, the Islamabad High Court (IHC) struck down the establishment division’s amended promotion policy of 1982 and the apex court upheld the decision in 2017.
The actual law of promotion is contained in Section 7(1)(b)(ii) and Section 7(1)(c) of the Federal Public Service Commission (FPSC) Ordinance, 1977; Section 25(2) of the Civil Servants Act, 1973; and Rule 8-A of the Civil Servants (Appointment, Promotion and Transfer) Rules, 1973.
Section 7(1)(b)(ii) of the FPSC Ordinance empowers the Federal Public Service Commission to advise the president on promotion policy for promotion to BS-18 and above, while Section 25(2) of the Civil Servants Act empowers the president to enact such promotion policy in the form of rules. The president has already enacted such promotion policy in the APT Rules.