Punjab PMS association writes to CM against policy of benefiting DMG officers

ISLAMABAD: Punjab Provincial Management Service (PMS) Officers’ Association has raised voice against the appointment of the officers of District Management Group (DMG) on several important posts of the province instead of PMS servants, Pakistan Today has learnt.

PMS Officer’s Association, in a letter to Chief Minister (CM) Sardar Usman Khan Buzdar, has asked to put an end to the policy of benefiting DMG officers in appointments on various important positions. The association said that all important positions of the province were occupied by DMG bureaucrats, depriving the officers of PMS.

They also said it was unfair that position of grade 22 was “unconstitutionally” limited for DMG officers in the province as officers of PMS were deprived of the grade. Approximately 100 officers of federal public service Commission (FPSC) of various grades are presently occupying the important positions, in sheer violation of the provincial quota, said the association.

Demanding to put an end to the policy of discouraging 1,200 PMS officers under a formula of caretaker prime minister Mueen Qureshi, the association asked the CM to review the policy.

According to PMS Officers Association, the ultimately irony of the situation is that PMS officers of Punjab, who have a legitimate claim and right in playing their due role in running the affairs of the province, especially in the wake of the 18^th constitutional amendment that enunciates provincial autonomy, are denied their due share even as per the disputed 1993 IPCC (Inter-Provincial Coordination Committee).

Almost all the senior positions in the secretariat as well as the field, including the chief secretary, additional chief secretaries, P&D chairman, Board of Revenue senior member, secretaries to the government, head of attached departments and autonomous bodies and divisional commissioners, are occupied by federal officers of the DMG, now renamed as the Pakistan Administrative Service (PAS), they stated in the letter.

“Besides, the issue of infringement of rights of the PMS officers, the prevalent scheme belies the tall claims of good governance and efficient public service delivery because it reserves such a large number of posts for DMG officers against which their service group actually does not have the actual strength/numbers available on ground,” read the letter, adding that resultantly, a large number of posts in the field, the secretariat and autonomous bodies etc. were kept vacant which led to ill governance and poor public service delivery.

Sharing number of posts from BS-18 to BS-22 of Punjab province reserved for DMG and PMS officers, the association said 415 were reserved for a small number of DMG officers of BS 17 actually available in Punjab i-e only 42 officers whereas for above 750 PMS officers of BS 17, only 444 posts from BS-18 to 21 are available and BS-22 has been totally denied to the PMS officers. It also said that the whopping 190 number of BS-18 post reserved for DMG against the 42 BS-17 officers available in Punjab speaks volumes of the callous and unjust treatment being meted out, not only to the PMS officers for whom only 264 posts in BS-18 have been reserved against an actual on ground strength of around 750 but also to the governance system at large.