ISLAMABAD - The Pakistan Engineering Council, the elected representative body of all 2,40,000 registered engineers, on Tuesday moved a petition in the Supreme Court for creation of a separate occupational group for engineers as "Engineering  Service of Pakistan."

The petition further requested the apex court to issue directives for other reforms in the governance structure, including appointment of qualified engineers as secretaries of the divisions relating to engineering works and appointment of qualified engineers against all such posts in the service of federal government which require substantial engagement in the professional engineering work.

The divisions include Communications Division, Power Division, Housing and Works Division, Railways Division, Water Resources Division, Aviation Division, Defence Production Division, Industries and Production Division, Information and Broadcasting Division, Information Technology and Telecommunications Division, Maritime Affairs Division, Petroleum Division, and Science and Technology Division.

"Even though the above-mentioned divisions are unmistakably "engineering organisations" with the meaning of the PEC Act, the secretaries and most senior managers of all of these divisions are non-engineers," stated a petition filed by Chairman PEC Engineer Jawed Saleem Qureshi through his counsel Barrister Umer Gillani.

The petitioner has drawn the court's attention to the stunning fact that at present if Railways Division excluded, there was simply no engineer serving in a Grade 22 post and only one engineer serving in a Grade 21 post in the entire federal government.

The petition stated that a study, conducted by the PEC officials, showed that contrary to the objects of the Civil Servants Act 1973 and PEC Act 1976, engineers, scientists and other technical specialists continued to be barred from the stream of higher management in government.

Instead, all policy-level positions in the federal government are held by generalists, usually officers of the Pakistan Administrative Service, it added.

"It is because of this inappropriate governance structure that our water and energy crises are getting worse every year and the precious resources of the people of Pakistan are being frittered away," he added.

The petition urged the top court to issue directions to the federal government for creating a distinct occupational group for engineers as "Engineering Service of Pakistan (ESP)" at par the existing occupational groups like "Pakistan Administrative Service (PAS) also known as the DMG Group.

The petition relied on numerous un-implemented provisions of law, including the Section 27 of the PEC Act, which makes it mandatory for the government to appoint engineers for all engineering-related posts. 

The PEC chairman stated that the council gathered evidence substantiating systematically exclusion of engineers from the policy-making positions and discrimination in the matter of promotions.

"If Railways Division is excluded, there is simply no engineer serving in a Grade 22 post and only one engineer serving in a Grade 21 post in the entire federal government. If this is the share of engineers in policy-making, how can Pakistan enter into the list of developed nations?" he questioned.

The petition added that the data also established a pattern of discrimination suffered by engineers in getting promoted in the divisions surveyed.

"For instance, in the Railways Division, at basic scale 17, 50 per cent of all gazetted officers are engineers. When we move up to basic scale 18, the percentage of engineers dwindles to 29.36 per cent. When we move further up to basic scale 19, the percentage of engineers goes down to a mere 12.11 per cent. At basic scale 20, the percentage goes down to 6.73 per cent. At basic scale 21 and 22, the percentage is negligible. The situation is much worse in numerous other divisions," it added.

The petition stated that since the federation was not allowing engineers to be promoted to the policy-making grades including 20, 21 and 22, the engineering profession as a whole was feeling demoralised and degraded.

It added that under Article 27 of the Constitution read with Section 27 of the Pakistan Engineering Act, 1976 engineers had a right not to be under-represented in the service of Pakistan, adding that the third proviso of Article 27 specifically empowered the Parliament to enact laws to redress the "under-representation... in the service of Pakistan" of any "class" of persons.

It added that the key government posts in all walks of life were dominated by DMGs who did not possess the professional qualification required for the job.

The enactment of PEC Act in the year 1976 and specifically the insertion of sub-section 5A of Section 27 in the year 2004 were meant to bring about a radical change in this situation.

Non-appointment of engineers in policy-making positions in engineering-related divisions also amounts to a violation of the fundamental right to integrity of the profession and professional dignity guaranteed under Article 18 of the Constitution read with Article 14, the petition added.

The petition next contended that the purpose behind creating distinct occupational groups in Central Superior Service was to promote professionalism, specialisation, functional qualifications and equality of opportunity in government service.

"One of the prominent reasons why engineers in public sector are not being promoted to higher grades such as Grades 20, 21 and 22 is because of the absence of an Occupational Group which would specifically cater to their needs."

"If an occupational group were created for engineers, a distinctive regime suitable for the training and promotion of engineers in public service would also have to be created in accordance with occupational groups and services (Probation, Training and Seniority) Rules, 1990," it added.   "Since the creation of occupational groups has been done through the exercise of power conferred by law, it is within the competence of this court to direct Respondent No. 1 (federal government) to create another 'Occupational Group' called the 'Engineering Service of Pakistan' or to take such other measures as are necessary to achieve objects of the law," the petition added.

The petition added that most of the money will be spent on projects relating to "professional engineering work" of CPEC.

"It is worrisome that at this critical juncture in Pakistan's history, these engineering organisations have very few, if any, engineers or technical experts holding senior policy-level posts. Policy-level posts in all CPEC-related government bodies are filled with bureaucrats from Pakistan Administrative Service who are simply not trained for the jobs given to them," it added.