Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: Officers from various civil servants groups who are not promoted by Nawaz Sharif are mulling to move the court.

Courts are already hearing dozens of such cases. The prime minister has deferred promotions of 93 officers of various cadres, including Pakistan Administrative service (PAS), Police Service of Pakistan (PSP), Audit and Accounts Service, Inland Revenue, and Customs group.

“There is clear discrimination on the promotions of CSP officers pertaining to their civil services groups. Following the traditional favoritism, officers of PSP, PAS and Customs were promoted while the Establishment Division ignored the competent, honest and hardworking officers belong to the services group of Information, Postal, Railway, and Office Management Groups,” said a senior officer of information group, who wished not to be named.

Sources claimed that 10 deferred officers are all set to go to court.

Nawaz on Saturday promoted 405 officers of various groups from grade 19 to 20 and from grade 20 to 21. 34 officers of PAS group, previously named DMG, got promoted to grade 20 and 31 promoted to grade 21. Another 21 officers of PSP were promoted to grade 20 and 14 officers to grade 21.

In the Foreign Service, 12 officers were promoted to grade 20 and six into grade 21. From the Secretariat Group, 17 officers were promoted to grade 20 and 11 in grade 21. In the Federal Board of Revenue’s (FBR) Inland Revenue Department, 53 officers made it to grade 20, while 13 were promoted to grade 21.At least 20 officers from Customs group were promoted to grade 20 and six to grade 21.

From Audit and Accounts, 15 officers were promoted to grade 15 and 22 were promoted to grade 20. In the Information group, eight officers were promoted to grade 20 and one officer made it to grade 21.

Six officers from the Inter-Services Intelligence have been promoted to the post of deputy director general (DIS) in grade 20 and one officer has made it to the post of director general (DIS) in grade 21.

Earlier the Establishment Division had given the summary of 498 officers for promotion after two months the recommendation of Supreme Court.

One officer told this scribe that the decision to defer the promotion of 93 officers is without any logic. The Prime Minister’s Secretariat took more than two months for scrutinizing the proposed name of Central Selection Board (CSB) and regretfully it has deferred the promotion of hard working and dead honest persons.

“We can say that there have been some decision done on the basis of personal likes and dislikes,” official added while requesting anonymity.

Sources claimed that Nawaz has promoted husband of State Minister for Health Saira Afzal Tarar from grade 20 to 21. He is currently working as a commercial councilor in Pakistani Embassy in India.

Another officer of commerce and trade group Syed Rafeo Bashir got promoted from grade 19 to 20; he is the nephew of opposition leader Khursheed Shah.

When the Hajj scandal was surfaced, Rafeo Bashir was working as director hajj in Ministry of Religious Affairs.

Faud Hashim Rabbani, an officer of Pakistan Administrative Services, formally known as the District Management Group, got promoted to grade 20. He is working as a Joint Secretary in Planning Ministry.

Seeking anonymity, a senior officer of Inland Revenue said that most of the hard working officers from IR Service, Information, Postal, Railway, Office Management Group did not get promotion. “Their working is going very good and in my point of view they deserve promotion to other grade,” the officer added.

There is a promotion case pending in the Supreme Court against the appointment of FBR Chairman Irshad and Chaudhry Safdar in which the petitioners claimed that the promoted officers were junior to them as Safdar was at number 10 and Dr Irshad at number 16 on the seniority list.