Controversial Office Memo stopped promotions of 94 officers

By
Azaz Syed
|
Controversial Office Memo stopped promotions of 94 officers

ISLAMABAD: A controversial ‘office memorandum’ (OM) was used to prevent the promotion of 94 officers of Grade 20, Geo News learnt on Sunday.

In the recent promotions of officers of Grade 20 to Grade 21 by the Central Selection Board (CSB), the federal government used a controversial document, claim sources in the establishment division. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has already approved it.

A February 2014 office order, known as OM of overriding five marks, can stop the promotion of eligible officers. Some of the officers also claimed that a key officer who oversaw all the promotions has used it to victimise them.

As per the order, five marks out of 100 for the promotion of Grade 21 officers can be changed. These five marks, of integrity, are part of PM’s discretionary powers.

This means that if a person scores 95 marks out of 100 for his annual service but the PM thinks that the officer is not fit for promotion due to ‘integrity’ issues then he will not be promoted.

"The government had promised before the Supreme Court that the controversial OM will be taken back,” remarked top bureaucrats insisting that the same document was still haunting them.

The controversial, amended rule was challenged in the Islamabad High Court soon after the Central Selection Board (CSB) 2015. After a long litigation in the court, the federation lost the case in the High Court. Later, a review was filed which was also rejected by the court.

The federal government later filed an appeal in the Supreme Court by where the incumbent Secretary Establishment Syed Tahir Shahbaz on November 17, 2016, gave assurance in writing that government is willing to do away with the controversial memo.

The copy of the letter submitted to the Supreme Court is also available with Geo News which states, “In due deference to this august court’s observation made during the course of hearing of captioned CA’s regarding the overriding effect of five marks for integrity and with a view to bringing closure to the present long drawn litigation delaying the holding of CSB, the federal government is willing to do away with the overriding effect of said 5 marks for integrity by amending the OM (Office Memo) dated 10-2-2014.”

The Secretary Establishment in the same letter also assured, “Resultantly, petitioners before learned High Court eligible for consideration shall be considered afresh in the next CSB in light of the amended OM, after doing away with the overriding effect of 5 marks for integrity, as aforesaid and, if promoted, shall regain their seniority with their batch considered in the CSB held in May,2015.”

Abdur Rehman Siddiqui, a senior lawyer of the SC, representing some of the officers who were barred from the promotion when contacted said that the “five marks overriding effect has no moral value.”

The interesting thing in this entire promotion is this that the matter was actually dealt by Fawad Hasan Fawad, secretary to the Prime Minister whose own integrity is questioned by some.

The question on the officer’s integrity was raised by Burhanul Islam, a Grade 20 officer of Foreign Service of Pakistan in his letter, the copy of which also available with Geo News, to Prime Minister, has claimed that the said officer, while his tenure in Germany as Commercial Counsellor during 2002 to 2005, in violation of the rules paid his utility bills through public money.

When Fawad Hasan Fawad was contacted he said that the allegations are absolute lies. He said he will not answer about his official work; however, he would answer about himself. He claimed that to date he does not even drink tea from the government exchequer.

He questioned why Burhanul Islam raised this matter only after the promotions.

According to him, there was no audit objection. He told this correspondent that there was a scrutiny committee and he was a member of the said committee.

Fawad also said that PM on Saturday in front of five officers and discussed the promotion of each of the officers.