Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: The government’s move to change the criteria for inductions in Office Management Group (OMG) has created a sense of deprivation and anxiety among the OMG officers working in various federal ministries.

The move was against various observations of the Supreme Court of Pakistan in different cases, claimed the officers, adding that the decision of inducting government employees in OMG group without any exam of Public Service Commission would also damage the group standards, besides affecting the performance of officers.

The prime minister’s secretary signed a summary on Jun 15 for inductions in OMG from departments of federal and provincial governments, which displeased the OMG officers.

According to the text of notification, the federal and provincial civil servants in BS-17 and BS-18, with at least three years continuous service in the Federal Secretariat, Prime Minister’s Office, President House, Office of the Federal Ombudsman, Senate Secretariat and Nation Assembly Secretariat, would be considered for appointment by transfer/induction into OMG.

Talking to Daily Times, an OMG officer said the group officers that passed FPSC exams would be deprived from their due share in the civil service due to these inductions while a lower division government employee could now become an OMG officer after consecutive promotions under the new changes.

He said the staff of presidency, PM Office, Federal Ombudsmen, Senate and National Assembly was not used to be recruited through the Federal Public Service Commission (FPSC), as these departments had their own recruitment criteria.

“These were powerful officers and there were more chances of their selection in the OMG under the 10 percent quota compared to those eligible officials selected through public service commissions working in different ministries or divisions,” he added.

The officer said according to the procedure laid down in 2010, inductions in the OMG was made through the FPSC, government officials working in the lower grades could also join OMG after passing an FPSC exam and a 10 percent quota was reserved for those officers who were recruited through FPSC or Provincial Public Service Commission against different posts.

Under the said quota, inductions were made via deputation or though posting and transferring officers, he said. However, he claimed that the summary notified on June 15 ‘relaxed’ the induction criteria so that in addition to those officials who joined the federal or provincial government through the public service commissions, those directly appointed in government departments may also become part of OMG.

It may be mentioned that the section officers from various ministries had also challenged the government’s notification in the court. The petitioners had claimed that the act of respondents was against the dictum laid down by various judgments of the Supreme Court of Pakistan.