Bureaucrats demand ‘equal representation’ in civil service reforms

The officials of 11 bureaucracy groups have written an open letter to Prime Minister Imran Khan expressing disappointment over the suggested task force reforms.

According to a local media report, the Office Management Group (OMG) wrote the letter on behalf of bureaucrats, urging the PM to balance out the committee for civil service reforms formed on September 6.

“There is no representation from rest of the 11 services or groups at the said forum and to make the reforms meaningful, it is requested to include at least one representative from each group so that collective wisdom may prevail with a sustainable outcome,” the letter states.

The bureaucrats are concerned that representation from only PAS means “the policy/reforms would be influenced and tilted to benefit only one group while the status quo would prevail for the rest”.

In the letter, the bureaucrats have also requested the PM “to abolish arbitrary and unjust Statutory Regulatory Orders (SROs) issued in 2004”.

Moreover, claiming that “Grade 21 and 22 have a mighty share of 65 per cent, which is 35 per cent in each for the rest of the groups despite the fact that all occupational groups joint the service through the same competitive process and undergo similar training courses”.

The letter also stated that the reforms are made transparently and that all groups are equally represented.

The ToRs for the task force include preparing recommendations for the government for the legislative purpose; devising a public service structure at federal and provincial levels; and looking into policies over a human resource, management, recruitment, training, and career planning.