18:58
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LAHORE: The appointment of members of the Services Tribunal needs to be rid of government influence and made more transparent so that it can provide protection to civil bureaucracy against political pressure.
The civil bureaucracy and the political leadership are implicitly responsible for the deteriorating state of law and order in the province. The institution of bureaucracy did not evolve with time as other institutions of the state like the judiciary and military; therefore, it needs to reorganise and realign itself with the political system to deliver.
These views were shared by guests at a Jang Forum held on the topic, ‘Civil Bureaucracy and the Rule of Law’. The guests at the forum were former Chief Secretary Punjab Javed Qureshi, Air Marshal (Retd) Anwar Mahmood Khan, President PCS Officers’ Association Rai Manzoor Nasir and Institute of Development Democracy and Law President Advocate Syed Ali Raza Shah. The forum was hosted by journalists Iftikhar Ahmed and Moayyed Jafri.
President PCS Officers’ Association Rai Manzoor Nasir said the PCS officers were an integral part of the civil bureaucracy yet they can’t concentrate on their duties to serve the masses as they were always struggling for their rightful position in the system that discriminates against them. He was of the view that until the role and structure of civil bureaucrats was not defined in a non-vulnerable way, they would never had the resources required to serve the people to the best of their abilities.
He pointed out towards the vulnerability of their jobs as they were victimized in extreme ways if they choose to disobey the orders of political leaders even if these orders were not in public interest.
He said the Service Tribunal, which was the first instance court for the inquiry of bureaucrats has its members appointed by the discretion of the government which marked a clear conflict of interest and dented the authenticity and transparency of this tribunal. Thus, upright bureaucrats suffer as SDOs and at times even their salaries are held up.
Former Chief Secretary Punjab Javed Qureshi seconded the reasons for lapse of governance put forward by Rai Manzur and said that there was no legal protection for the bureaucrats against victimization if they choose to uphold public interest against the will of the political leadership. He was of the view that because the country has seen majority rule of dictatorial regimes therefore this mindset has crept into the political leadership as well, therefore there was a need to change and reform this mindset. He expressed concern over the complete absence of governance.
Institute of Development Democracy and Law (IDDL) President Advocate Syed Ali Raza Shah shared the observation that over 65 years of independence the institution of bureaucracy did not evolve with time like others like judiciary and military did. He was of the view that therefore it needed to realign itself with the current political set up and reorganize and redefine its state functions to mesh with the political machinery so that the ultimate objective if serving the people could be achieved in the best way possible. He said that the bureaucracy too isn’t completely innocent in this case and bureaucrats enjoy privileged positions.
The Parliamentary Committees still don’t have the power to question any bureaucrat he added. He too was for more transparency of the Punjab Service Tribunal and said that the PCS officers will get more power in the post 18th Amendment. The question however still stands whether the PCS officers will give due power to the civil bureaucratic set up beneath them post local body elections, he concluded.
Professor Air Marshal (Retd) Anwar Mahmood Khan said that unless the principles of accountability, transparency, meritocracy and consistency are not practiced in the governance system, there was little hope that it will deliver. He said that the bureaucrats are groomed in an on job environment where they witness how those who were corrupt and implicit with the corrupt politicians and thus they are tuned to follow in those footsteps as they know that any deviation will result in a lifetime as OSD and their lives bypass them.
He said that the political government is not its job of legislation and majority of the legislation is still bureaucracy driven. Unless every organ of the government doe sits job with honesty, the system will continue to run on autopilot fuelled by vested interests, he concluded.
The civil bureaucracy and the political leadership are implicitly responsible for the deteriorating state of law and order in the province. The institution of bureaucracy did not evolve with time as other institutions of the state like the judiciary and military; therefore, it needs to reorganise and realign itself with the political system to deliver.
These views were shared by guests at a Jang Forum held on the topic, ‘Civil Bureaucracy and the Rule of Law’. The guests at the forum were former Chief Secretary Punjab Javed Qureshi, Air Marshal (Retd) Anwar Mahmood Khan, President PCS Officers’ Association Rai Manzoor Nasir and Institute of Development Democracy and Law President Advocate Syed Ali Raza Shah. The forum was hosted by journalists Iftikhar Ahmed and Moayyed Jafri.
President PCS Officers’ Association Rai Manzoor Nasir said the PCS officers were an integral part of the civil bureaucracy yet they can’t concentrate on their duties to serve the masses as they were always struggling for their rightful position in the system that discriminates against them. He was of the view that until the role and structure of civil bureaucrats was not defined in a non-vulnerable way, they would never had the resources required to serve the people to the best of their abilities.
He pointed out towards the vulnerability of their jobs as they were victimized in extreme ways if they choose to disobey the orders of political leaders even if these orders were not in public interest.
He said the Service Tribunal, which was the first instance court for the inquiry of bureaucrats has its members appointed by the discretion of the government which marked a clear conflict of interest and dented the authenticity and transparency of this tribunal. Thus, upright bureaucrats suffer as SDOs and at times even their salaries are held up.
Former Chief Secretary Punjab Javed Qureshi seconded the reasons for lapse of governance put forward by Rai Manzur and said that there was no legal protection for the bureaucrats against victimization if they choose to uphold public interest against the will of the political leadership. He was of the view that because the country has seen majority rule of dictatorial regimes therefore this mindset has crept into the political leadership as well, therefore there was a need to change and reform this mindset. He expressed concern over the complete absence of governance.
Institute of Development Democracy and Law (IDDL) President Advocate Syed Ali Raza Shah shared the observation that over 65 years of independence the institution of bureaucracy did not evolve with time like others like judiciary and military did. He was of the view that therefore it needed to realign itself with the current political set up and reorganize and redefine its state functions to mesh with the political machinery so that the ultimate objective if serving the people could be achieved in the best way possible. He said that the bureaucracy too isn’t completely innocent in this case and bureaucrats enjoy privileged positions.
The Parliamentary Committees still don’t have the power to question any bureaucrat he added. He too was for more transparency of the Punjab Service Tribunal and said that the PCS officers will get more power in the post 18th Amendment. The question however still stands whether the PCS officers will give due power to the civil bureaucratic set up beneath them post local body elections, he concluded.
Professor Air Marshal (Retd) Anwar Mahmood Khan said that unless the principles of accountability, transparency, meritocracy and consistency are not practiced in the governance system, there was little hope that it will deliver. He said that the bureaucrats are groomed in an on job environment where they witness how those who were corrupt and implicit with the corrupt politicians and thus they are tuned to follow in those footsteps as they know that any deviation will result in a lifetime as OSD and their lives bypass them.
He said that the political government is not its job of legislation and majority of the legislation is still bureaucracy driven. Unless every organ of the government doe sits job with honesty, the system will continue to run on autopilot fuelled by vested interests, he concluded.
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