Daily Times

Why don’t the bureaucrats, so-called the civil servants or the servants of the people, want to retire when their service tenure ends? Instead, they want to hang on to their official positions for as long as they possibly can. Retiring gracefully at the end of meritorious service is characteristic of one’s high-mindedness. Those who retire from high positions rarely have financial problems yet they find it hard to part with their official status.

Some bureaucrats even settle for positions lower than they had previously served at. A case in point is the petition in Islamabad High Court against the appointment of a retired federal secretary as one of NAB’s regional heads. Having retired in grade 22, the officer decided to work in grade 21. Retiring after many years in a job should be a blissful vacation with the family and one would have all the time to play with one’s grandchildren. One could even tell his life partner: “Dear, I am finally home for good; let’s find new pursuits, such as reading, writing or travelling and connecting with old friends.” And life could take a new turn.

After all, why do the judges of superior courts, bureaucrats and ambassadors aspire for either extension in service or want to be reappointed in high positions in other organisations? In fact, the power and authority the top men enjoy when everyone down below looks up to them ingratiatingly are never easy to give up.

Retiring after many years in a job should be a blissful vacation with the family.

Neither do the enormous perks and privileges attached to their status allow them to fade away into the sunset, as they say. Even the mid-level bureaucrats have at least two vehicles, one for the Sahib and the other for the family.

And what feeling of superiority it would give to an important state functionary when travelling in a chauffeured car led and followed by vehicles of the security detail and protocol. With time, these trappings on state expense become part of the top layers’ lifestyle. Not to mention, all utility bills paid and household staff – cooks, guards and servants in waiting. Although retirement is lonely and difficult to cope with, one has to retire from life itself someday – an aspect to be kept in mind when jockeying for extension in service.

Some government organisations serve as relaxation centres for retired bureaucrats, such as various public service commissions of the country. And more departments, now fashionably called ‘authorities’ keep coming up not as much to serve the people as to accommodate the multiplying number of bureaucrats.

For instance, the LDA wing Traffic Engineering and Transport Planning Agency that existed for years, despite the chaotic traffic on the roads, is about to get an authority status. Its offices will be opened in various districts of the province and recruitments announced.

However, a serious issue of morality arises when seeking for extension in service or re-employment in other organisations. Simply explained, when a bureaucrat gets an extension in service, he deprives his junior colleagues of the promotion they deserve. Every young civil servant or a judge wants to be promoted to higher ranks, which is their basic right. The retirees put a lid on their upward mobility by getting extensions thus denying the opportunity to the juniors to rise in ranks. Some of the juniors may well be far more competent and efficient than the one who doesn’t want to relinquish their seat of power and influence.

I recall having written a piece on the subject of retirement many years ago in another newspaper. I remember how then a recently retired federal secretary emailed his comments on the article and recounted what he did on the last day in office.

“I wanted to make this day a special one. My wife prepared some dishes and brought them over to the office. We collected the immediate staff in my office and served them with whatever had been brought from home, over a cup of tea. I took the last ride home in the official car and returned it. I was asked if I wanted an extension in service or wanted to keep the official house for some time. I gratefully said ‘thank you’ and my decades-long government service came to an end” he wrote. Adding more he went on, “Unfortunately, people like us are quite a few but they leave quietly and are never counted.” What he advised holds even today: Say goodbye to tension and hello to your pension.

The writer is a Lahore-based columnist and can be reached at pinecity@gmail.com.