HOW TO REFORM THE CIVIL SERVICES IN PAKISTAN?

Ishrat Husain

 Civil Services would be organized at four tiers:

(i) All Pakistan Services

(ii) Federal Services

(iii) Provincial Services

(iv) District Services

 All Pakistan Services should consist of the National Executive Service, the Pakistan
Administrative Service and Police Service of Pakistan. The Federal Services will
comprise the Pakistan Foreign Service, Pakistan Audit and Accounts Service Pakistan
Taxation Service and Pakistan Technical Services with sub cadres. Direct recruitment to
other existing services through the Central Superior Services examination will be
discontinued in a phased manner. The Provincial Services will include the Provincial
Executive Service, Provincial Management Service, Provincial Technical Services and
Provincial Judicial Service. All direct recruitment to positions in Grade 17 and above
will be merit based with due representation to the regional and women quotas.
Recruitment in all cases will be made only by the Federal and Provincial Public Service
Commissions through open, transparent, competitive examination and interview process.
BPS Scales will be applicable to Education, Health, Police and Judicial Services as they
will have special scales of their own. Those serving in these departments in the backward
districts will be given premium scales. All posts would enjoy security of tenure. If an
officer is transferred before completion of the specified tenure the Government has to
provide a reason in writing. The aggrieved officer will have the justiciable right to the
appeal to the Tribunal/ Courts.

 As most of the interaction between an ordinary citizen takes place at the District level and
the present level of functionaries consists of ill-trained, poorly paid, unhelpful,
discourteous individuals enjoying arbitrary powers, a new set up is required at the District
                                                            
1
 Special lecture delivered at the University of Karachi on February 19, 2015 
 level. District Service consisting of all employees serving in Grades 1-16 should be
constituted . These employees will serve in the districts of their choice throughout their
career. Direct recruitment to Grades 11 and above will be made on merit through the
Provincial Public Service Commission. The District Service will consist of two cadres –
generalist and technical. This will minimize the political pressures for transfers and
postings as two thirds out of 2 million employees working in the provinces will remain in
their respective District Governments. Training in technical and soft skills will be made
mandatory for all members of the District services. The District Government has to be
strengthened by establishing administrative linkages between the Union Councils, Town
Committees / Tehsil Councils and District Governments. Executive magistrates will need
to be revived. In case the system of District Nazim is revived, which ought to be, Law
and Order, Disaster Management and Land Record Management should be taken away
from his purview and transferred to the Deputy Commissioner. This office should be
transformed into that of a District Chief Operating Officer with enlarged scope of duties.
The devolution of development activities projects, programs and departments was
working satisfactorily until 2007 and should remain with the District Governments.

 One of the main weaknesses of the present system is that once you have entered the Civil
Service at a young age, there is no compulsion to upgrade your skills or knowledge.
Career advancement is divorced from skill and knowledge acquisition and application.
Promotion and Placement policy should be aimed at rewarding those who perform well
and demonstrate potential for shouldering higher responsibilities. Promotion policy
should lay down the criteria including the weight given to PER, Training and Skills
acquisition, rotation of assignments, diversity of experience, complexity of jobs, etc. for
each level. Training of all Civil Servants at all levels – Cadre or Non-Cadre should be
mandatory and linked explicitly to promotion to the next grade. For this purpose, the
existing training institutes will be made autonomous and provided the requisite human
and financial resources. Professional training for engineers, scientists, accountants, health
experts, educators, economists, etc., will be introduced and new institutes established to
fill in the gaps.
 A fair and equitable compensation system cannot work well unless it is accompanied by
an objective performance appraisal system. The current system of Annual Confidential
Report (ACR) has outlived its utility and should be replaced with an Open Performance
Evaluation Report (PER) system in which the goals and targets are agreed at the
beginning of the year, key performance indicators to measure the achievements are
established and an open discussion is held between the appraisee and the supervisor on
the identification of development needs to carry out the work. Mid-year review is held to
assess progress and provide feedback and the annual evaluation is held jointly through a
discussion between the appraisee and the supervisor. The appraisee can then sign the
report or appeal to the next in line supervisor against the findings of his immediate
supervisor. This way the PER will be used mostly as a tool for the development of the
individual to meet the needs of the organization. Poor or underperformers should be
particularly focused upon to facilitate them to achieve better performance outcomes.

 About 100 key public sector institutions in the country such as PIA, WAPDA, PSO,
OGDC, Pakistan Railways, etc. have a critical impact on the economic and social
outcomes. There have been serious questions about the appointments of Chief Executives
of these organizations. Even when competent individuals were appointed, their
detractors or other aspirants who lost out, carried out malicious media campaigns and
virtually paralyzed the Chief Executive from making effective decisions. To overcome
this tendency, the governance structure has to be made more transparent and merit-based
so that the right man is chosen as the Chief Executive of the organization through a well
laid down process. A special Selection Board will screen, interview the candidates and
prepare a short list for consideration by the Prime Minister. This process will minimize
arbitrary discretionary powers in appointments, attract capable candidates for these key
jobs and discourage the trend of hurling frivolous charges against the selected candidates.
Once appointed, these Chief Executives should be given operational autonomy, a fixed
tenure and a set of objectives and goals. They should be held accountable for results.

 Corruption among the majority of Civil Servants cannot be curbed by moral persuasion
but providing them adequate compensation package. The present compensation structure
whereby the officers are grossly underpaid in relation to their comparators and do not
 earn a decent living wage has given rise to poor morale, a sense of indifference in work,
and an attitude of apathy. None of the reforms proposed above can succeed unless the
compensation package offered to the officer cadre is substantially upgraded. Officers in
Grade 17-22 are poorly paid while the employees in Grade 1-16 better paid than those in
the private sector. There is excess employment in the lower grades and therefore all
vacancies in these grades (except Education, Health, Police and Judiciary) should be
frozen and the saving used to increase the salaries of the officers. This will keep the wage
bill of the Government within the limits of fiscal deficit. Although this is a politically
difficult decision, but it should also be remembered that high fiscal deficits results in high
rates of inflation that undermine popular support for the political party in power. After
all, Government employment accounts for less than 6% of total employment in the
country and makeshift employment in the public sector cannot satisfy the voters.

 The world is moving swiftly towards Information and Communication Technology that is
bringing benefits to the lives of the common citizens. E-Government tools and
development in digital technology offer promising prospects for improving the efficiency
of government, reducing the costs of transactions, conveniencing the ordinary citizens,
introducing transparency and reducing discretionary powers and corruption and tracking
the performance and output. Despite such potentially powerful impact of E-Government
the resistance, reluctance and contrived delay in its adoption are fierce. A modest
beginning has been made in an ad hoc manner but a concerted effort steered and guided
by the top leadership at the Federal and Provincial governments is lacking. Unless
serious attention is given by the country’s leadership the pace will remain uneven, the
impact will be marginal and the opportunities foregone will be tremendous. Training of
those already working in the government in electronic filing, messaging, sharing and
exchanging of documents, retrieving, reporting and archiving will make the transition
from paper based environment quite smooth. Transparency achieved through E-
Government will also help in curbing corruption and exercise of arbitrary discretionary
powers by Government functionaries.

 Another source of grief to the citizens is caused by uneven and discriminatory application
of the government rules, regulations and instructions. As these rules are not known to
 anyone except some limited number of lower functionaries, they exploit their power of
hoarding this knowledge for their benefits. Multiple and conflicting rules exist on the
same subject as there has been no systematic weeding out exercise undertaken. The
multiple rules, regulations, instructions and circulars existing in the manuals should be
weeded out, updated and compiled in form of a concise and accurate manual. The
Establishment Manual and the Finance Manuals deserve priority attention. These
manuals after updating and revision should then be uploaded on the websites of the
Government of Pakistan so that they are accessible to the public at large.

 One of the reasons for inefficiency in the disposal of government business is too much
concentration of powers in the hands of the Ministries of Finance, Law, Establishment
Division and Planning Commission. The Ministry of Finance had agreed to replace the
outdated concept of Financial Advisor organization by the Chief Financial and Accounts
officer in each Ministry working under the direct control of the Principal Accounting
Officer (PAO), who is the Secretary of the Division. The full powers for reappropriation
within the approved budget ought to be delegated to the Secretary of the Division. The
Secretary can further delegate some of the financial powers to the Head of Executive
departments or other officers in the Ministry. The Ministries / Divisions will bear the full
responsibility and accountability for their actions, achievements and failure and will thus
enjoy the powers to deploy the financial and human resources in the most effective
manner. The line ministries should be fully empowered to spend their budgetary
allocations subject to the PPRA rules, with internal controls and audit being done and the
support ministries ensuing that the rules and procedures are being complied with.

In addition to these medium and long term reforms in the structure, processes and policies, four
areas that affect our daily lives – Education, Health, Police and Land Administration should also
be reformed.

 Governance reforms in education are badly needed to uplift the literacy in the country.
These reforms should begin with a clear division of responsibilities between the Federal,
Provincial and District Governments in the delivery of services. While the Federal
Government will focus on higher education financing, regulations and standards and
curriculum, the Provincial Governments will be responsible for College Education,
 Technical and Vocational Education. The District Governments will have the exclusive
powers to manage and operate primary and secondary education upto matric.
Examination reforms will be carried out to bring the standards of various boards at par.
Management and teaching cadres should be separated and the career paths for the two
cadres would not discriminate against the teachers. Curriculum at all tiers from school to
the higher education should be developed at the National level jointly by the Federal and
the Provincial Governments.

 To bring about coordination and ensure uniformity in standards of public, private and not
for private schools, a District Education Board should be established in each district. The
Board will consist of eminent persons enjoying a good reputation in their communities
and will have the District Education officer as the Secretary to the Board. The Board will
be assisted by the School Management Committees which will be empowered to oversee
the school’s functioning. Head Teachers will enjoy more administrative authority in
running the schools and disciplining the teachers and arrange inspection of schools
periodically. Management and teaching cadres should be separated and the career paths
for the two cadres would not discriminate against the teachers. To provide financing for
talented students to pursue studies at top institutions in the country, Endowments funds at
the Provincial Governments should be topped up every year out of the budget. Student
vouchers or stipends should be available to meritorious children from the poor families to
attend private schools of their choice. Private-public partnerships in the form of “Adopt a
School” programs should be encouraged and given incentives. To promote increased
female enrollment at primary schools, only female teachers be employed whenever
possible.

 Most of the problems in health care delivery arise not from financial constraints but due
to poor management practices. Health management cadre should therefore, be separated
from teaching and service providers in each province and the Federal Government. Only
those having the aptitude should be recruited as health managers and trained at the
National and Provincial health academies. The District, teaching and other specialized
hospital should have their own autonomous Board of Directors and should be given
autonomy in administrative, financial, legal and human resource matters. Health,
 manpower, development, particularly in the nursing and paramedical professions, require
urgent attention for quality and volume increase. Health Regulatory framework should
be made more effective and also set up at the Provincial level.

 There is almost a consensus that the law and order and security problems that have
worsened in the recent years have arisen due to inefficiency, corruption and politicization
of the Police force. The original Police order 2002 had been compromised by
amendments that weakened the functioning as well as the accountability of the Police.
Legislative amendments and revised disciplinary rules are needed to allow Police officers
to perform their duties in accordance with the Police order and to remove the
discretionary powers of the Police. The reversal to the Old Police Act after 2008 has, in
fact, aggravated the situation as Police has become highly politicized. Police force should
not fall under the purview of the Civil Servants Act (except those belonging to the Police
Service of Pakistan) as it impedes internal accountability. Disciplinary rules should be
framed under the Police Order. The Provincial Police office should be organized along
functional lines and the powers should be delegated according to the Police Order. Police
stations should be merged, upgraded and headed by a directly recruited officer in Grade
17 with full responsibility for Watch and Ward, Investigation and Operations. Training,
allowances, mobility, logistics support, lodging and boarding, medical facilities and
welfare of the Police Force fall short of their requirements and create demoralization, too.
These should be reviewed and strengthened. Traffic Police in all large cities should be
organized and operated on the lines of Motorway Police.

 Land records as maintained by the Patwari are the single largest source of disputes and
litigation in the country. The attempts to create a digital database of land records have
remained halfhearted except in Punjab where some progress has been made.

 Land revenue assessment and collection, adjudication and dispute resolution should
remain under the District Government but the maintenance and update of land records
should be taken away from the District Government and placed directly under the Board
of Revenue. Patwari should be replaced by Revenue Assistant in BS 11 and above and
recruited through Provincial Public Service Commission. Colonization of Government
 Lands Act 1912 should be revised for better and transparent allocation and utilization of
state land.

 Another area that needs to be addressed is the absence of effective accountability for
results. There is both too much and too little accountability of those involved in public
affairs in Pakistan. On one hand, the plethora of laws and institutions such as Anti-
Corruption Bureaus, National Accountability Bureau (NAB), Auditor General’s reports,
Public Accounts Committees of the legislature, parliamentary oversight, judicial activism
and the Ombudsman system have created an atmosphere of fear, inertia and lack of
decision making among the civil servants. On the other hand, instances of rampant
corruption, malpractices, nepotism and favoritism and waste and inefficiency have
become a common folklore in the administrative culture of the country. Too much
emphasis on the ritualistic compliance with procedures, rules and form has taken the
place of substantive concerns with the results and outcomes for welfare and justice. The
NAB should be an independent body reporting directly to the Prime Minister and its
Chairman should be selected by the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition
jointly on basis of competence, integrity and independence. Investigation and Prosecution
responsibilities of white collar economic crimes and corruption should be entrusted to the
NAB. Accountability courts should be manned by honest judges who are free from
influences and pressure. The Provincial Anti-Corruption Establishments should also be
reorganized on the lines of NAB.

 Introducing transparency through simplification of rules and regulations, codification and

upgradation and wide dissemination through e-governance tools such as a dynamic
website, information Kiosks, on-line access to the government functionaries can help in
enforcing internal accountability standards while at the same time making it convenient
for the citizens to carry out hassle free transactions. Strong pressure from organized civil
society advocacy groups on specific sectors or activities from the media, the political
parties, private sector and think tanks can also compel the government departments and
Ministries to become more accountable for the results.
Governance agenda outlined above should not be considered as a technocratic exercise as it is
essentially a political exercise that takes into account the existing power relationships in which
the polity is rooted. The balancing of diverse interests of the various stakeholders involves many
politically tough choices which cannot be made by the technocrats. The sustainability of reforms
requires broad consultation, consensus building and communication to articulate the long term
vision. People should see beyond the immediate horizon and buy into the future changes.
Concerns, criticism and skepticism should be addressed. The scope, phasing, timing,
implementation strategies, mitigation measures for the losers from the reforms should be widely
discussed and debated. If things do not proceed the way they were conceptualized, corrective
actions should be taken in the light of the feedback received. Citizens’ charters, citizens’ surveys
and report cards, citizens’ panels and focus groups should be used as instruments for receiving
regular feedback about the impact of reforms on society and its different segments.

wThe above set of recommendations, if implemented earnestly, will generate much needed sense
of confidence among the ordinary citizens of the country, relieve undue pressure on our
politicians for chasing the officers of various departments and bring dividends to the political
parties in power at the Federal and the Provincial Government.