Islamabad:
The International Monetary Fund has inquired about the responsibility mechanism of civil servants with differences in their asset declarations, because the overwhelming majority of government employees still remains exempt from the declaration of public assets.
The world lender has also sought to implement a verification based on the risks of information disclosed by possible civil servants and penalties and investigations on officers whose assets exceed their declared sources of income, according to government sources.
However, due to a very close definition of a “civil servant”, it is estimated that 25,000 assets of civil servants can be disclosed even after a modification of the law on civil servants within the framework of the IMF condition for the package From $ 7 billion, government sources have added.
The officers of autonomous organizations, regulatory organizations such as the State Bank of Pakistan, the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority, the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority Pakistan Authority Authority and the provincial civil services will still remain exempt from digital. and their yields and their provincial civil service and subsequent public disclosure.
The majority of financial decisions are made by government employees working in these organizations, which is also reflected in the figures and the value of the audit objections printed by the auditor general of Pakistan.
The IMF delegation Visit met the establishment’s division and discussed questions related to the promotion, display and responsibility of officials serving on a basic scale from 17 to 22, according to government sources. The emphasis put by the delegation was beyond the simple disclosure of information and the action of the concerts against the corrupt officers, the sources said.
The meeting took place the day the federal office approved changes in the 1973 law on civil servants.
New amendment
A new clause 15-a declaration of assets in the old law has been introduced to allow the declaration of the assets of the civil servants. The government has also softened the right to access the 2017 information law to allow public disclosure of this information.
The new clause, approved by the cabinet, stipulates that “notwithstanding everything that contained in clause G of article 7 of the law of 2017 on the right of access to information, the declaration of the assets of an official From BS-17 and superior, his spouse and at the expense of children, including domestic and foreign assets and liabilities, as prescribed, have been deposited with the Federal Board of Revenue and will be accessible to the public, via FBR, in accordance with the rules which can be prescribed.
However, a limited exemption has been provided with public disclosure and that the new amendment stipulates that “the extent of the disclosure must duly take the balance between the public interest in good governance and the privacy and security of the ‘individual”.
The amendment is one of the 40 conditions that Pakistan agrees with the IMF in exchange for the 7 billion dollars loan agreement.
The IMF mission on the evaluation of the governance and corruption diagnosis is found in the city and has met the establishment’s division to discuss measures to limit the threat of corruption in bureaucracy. The IMF was informed that after approval of the firm, the new amendment will soon be deposited in the National Assembly for approval.
The sources have indicated that the IMF suggested implementing a risk -based verification system to see if the bureaucrats have truly declared their assets. The IMF was informed that after approval of the new amendment, the authorities will also modify civil servants to conduct the rules of 1964 to establish a mechanism for the responsibility of corrupt bureaucrats.
During its interaction, the IMF delegation asked if penalties were slapped on civil servants and if these penalties were also warned.
Limited scope
However, the extent of the new amendment is limited and the overwhelming majority of officers will always be exempt from public disclosure.
The new amendment will only be applicable to civil servants, defined in the law of civil servants of 1973.
The law stipulates that “the civil servant means a person who is a member of an All-Pakistan service or a public service of the federation or who occupies a civil post in relation to the affairs of the federation, including a such a position linked to defense.
Indeed, only officers of 12 professional groups and the attached departments will be covered by this definition, said an official of the establishment division. The official said that a total of 25,000 officers would fall into this category, which includes around 19,000 officers from the attached departments.
The Minister of Creation, Ahad Khan Cheema, confirmed to the Express PK Press Club that the new amendment was “only linked to the employees covered by the law of civil servants of 1973”.
Dr. Ishrat Husain, the former advisor to institutional reforms, wrote once the Supreme Court of Pakistan judged that a person being at the service of Pakistan, simply for this reason, cannot be classified as a “civil servant” such as that defined in the law on civil servants. 1973. Consequently, each person in the “Pakistan service” cannot automatically become an official.
He also wrote that a bench of nine judges of the Supreme Court determined that employees belonging to companies and autonomous organizations of the federal government do not attract the definition of civil servants.
The Pakistan public sector employs more than 3.4 million at the federal and provincial level from the first year to 22 years. Autonomous organizations have 389,923 employees and there are 1.8 million employees in provincial governments.
Iroreable Pakistan
The IMF delegation has also received independent expert contributions on the weakening of governance and the increase in corruption in Pakistan, sources said. The IMF was informed by experts that the country had become ungoverable due to the large size of the provinces with a larger population than the total size of many countries in the world.
One of the participants recommended creating more provinces and one of the options could be to convert the 31 existing divisions to 31 provinces, sources said. Experts were of the opinion that due to the large sizes of the provinces, it has become impossible to provide quality services and ensure good governance.
More and more provinces would also resolve the issue of provincialization of everything, government employment to share federal taxes, they told the IMF. One of the experts shared with the IMF that the Pakistani population was exaggerated due to the distribution of everything on the basis of the population among the federative units.
Independent experts have also highlighted the over -affair of the Federal Board of Revenue and Imating Corruption in the organization. It was also discussed during the IMF meeting with experts that the judiciary and bureaucracy was weakened over a period of time, according to sources.
