Pakistan’s Government received a boost when the Islamabad High Court ruled in favour of a major component of its Public Service reform agenda.
Ishrat Hussain (pictured), who oversees the reform, said the court had upheld the promotion policy favouring merit rather than seniority and length of service.
“The court’s decision will also give momentum to other reforms interlinked with the promotion policy, including the performance evaluation system, early retirement scheme and others,” Dr Hussain said.
“The court concluded that promotion was not a vested right of a Civil Servant and had to be governed under the rules and criteria prescribed by the Government from time to time,” he said.
Dr Hussain said other interlinked reforms which the Cabinet had already approved included the replacement of the existing annual confidential reports by a new performance management system.
“Under the new system, the evaluation of an officer will be based on an agreed set of key performance indicators rather than the present subjective and highly discretionary system that is unable to distinguish between a good performer and an indifferent or unsatisfactory one,” He said.
“Similarly, specialised training will enhance the capacity and value of technical experts and specialists serving the Government.”
He said some additional posts in higher grades would be created for specialists whose appointments would also be subjected to the same scrutiny and process as other Public Servants.
“This judgment will also help in the early retirement of non-performing Civil Servants as we are recommending that a board be established specifically to recommend severance based on lack of competence,” Dr Hussain said.
Islamabad, 3 October 2020
