On September 4, 2018, Prime Minister Imran Khan had set up a Task Force on Austerity and Restructuring of Government. Since then the Task Force has held seven meetings at Islamabad, Lahore, Peshawar and Quetta.
The report provided an update of the progress made during the last four months and the work plan for the future. The members of Task Force were of the view that instead of compiling all recommendations in one report, it should adopt an incremental approach, i.e., specific recommendations on a particular issue should be submitted to the cabinet for consideration and decision.
The Task Force members and participants in the Consultative sessions were almost unanimous in their views that security of tenure should be ensured for the incumbents of senior positions and a structured and transparent process for selection to the positions such as Secretaries to the Government, Chief Secretaries, IG Police and Chief Executives of major public Corporations and autonomous bodies should be put in place.
The Task Force felt that the humiliation and harassment of civil servants by National Accountability Bureau (NAB), Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), media and the superior courts has slowed down decision making and implementation of policies and projects.
There was strong expression of feelings that the NAB laws should be revised to limit their jurisdiction to cases of corruption in mega projects and the powers to punish financial irregularities based on hypothetical opportunity losses and misuse of authority without malafide intention should be taken from the purview of NAB. Judgment calls made by the civil servants in all earnestness and not intended for personal benefits should not be taken to task by NAB or FIA. In any human endeavour, it is not always possible to anticipate and take into account all factors that impact the final outcome.
The government has been requested that this critical matter be brought to an early conclusion to instill confidence among the civil servants and set the policymaking and policy implementation for smooth sailing.
"The ambitious goals and initiatives of the present government can only be attained if these hurdles are removed from the way," the sources quoted the Task Force is suggesting in the progress report.
The Task Force considered the following principles to guide the process of Civil Service Reforms: (i) open, transparent, merit-based recruitment to all levels and grades of public services with regional representation as laid down in the constitution; (ii) performance-based promotions and career progression for all public sector employees with compulsory training at post induction, mid-career and senior management levels; (iii) equality of opportunity for career advancements to all employees without preferences or reservations for any particular class; (iv) replacement of the concept of superior services by equality among all cadres and non-cadres of public servants; (v) grant of living wage and compensation package including decent retirement benefits to all civil servants; and (vi) strict observance of security of tenure of office for a specified period of time.
The work plan adopted by the Task Force consisted of both restructuring the government to bring about efficiency and cost savings and also Business Process Re-engineering (BPR) to simplify procedures for the citizens to access public service.
The salient features of the BPR once completed would be as follows: (i) introduction of E-Government should be accelerated with local areas network connectivity, website , data bases, electronic filing and tracking, all correspondence through emails forming a minimum package for all Divisions/attached departments/autonomous bodies. Technological solutions, hardware and software applications are easy part of the process but the most difficult aspect is the training and a change in the culture, attitude and practices. E-Government should be driven by business needs rather than crafted as an elegant technical solution;(ii) all laws, rules, regulations, circulars, guidelines issues by any Government Ministry/ department/ agency should be available in its most up dated version to the general public free of cost in a user-friendly manner on web page and in electronic and print forms at public places; and (iii) service standards with timelines for each type of service rendered at the District, Tehsil and Union Council level should be developed, widely disseminated and posted at public places in each department.
The Task Force has recommended that rules of business at the Federal, Provincial and District Governments should be revised to make them simple, comprehensive empowering the Secretaries/ heads of departments/ Deputy Commissioners to take decisions without multiple references, clearances and back and forth movement of files. Post- audit of the decisions taken should be used to ensure accountability rather than prior clearances.
It was further recommended that delegation of financial, administrative, procurement, human resource management powers should be revisited and adequate powers commensurate with the authority should be delegated at each tier of the hierarchy. The budgetary allocations should be divided for each Ministry in two parts: (a) employee related expenses and (b) single line item operational. The Principal Accounting Officer, assisted by the Chief Financial Officer, should be empowered to run the operational expenses without prior approval of the Ministry of Finance (MoF) except in case of acquisition of assets. Supplementary budget grants would be discontinued.
The task force has also recommended that Estacode, Financial Rules, Accounting and Audit Rules, Fundamental Rules and all other rules in force should be reviewed systematically and revised to bring them in line with modern management practices.
The task force maintained that public financial management system built around PIFRA should be used not only for transactions but also as a tool for decision making, the system should be fully interlinked among all the stakeholders and participants, gaps filled, and the system capabilities enhanced, coverage extended and functionalities added; both standardized as well as tailor made reports should be easily accessible from the dash boards.
The Task Force requested the four provincial governments to form provincial task force on the same lines as the federal task force. The Chief Minister of all the provinces have established and notified these groups.
It has also been recommended that heads of 70 organisations should be recruited in a transparent manner.
