LAHORE - Senior bureaucrat Naseem Sadiq became king of provincial service officers unopposed along with his cabinet yesterday.
Sadiq, who has served on important positions like DCO Multan, Faisalabad and Lahore, was elected unopposed as the president of PMS Welfare Association. Previously, he also delivered as DG Excise and Taxation department. As an officer he enjoyed good reputation.
The contest was only for one seat of senior vice president which was won by Abdul Razzaq Dogar.
In PMS Welfare Association Election, all streams of Provincial Management Service i.e. PCS, PSS & PMS participated.
The candidates were elected unopposed by consensus against the seats. Ch Shahid Hussain (Member CMIT) also filed nomination for seat of President. Later on, he withdrew in favour of Nasim Sadiq.
Moreover, Asif Hussain became Joint Secretary; Zaigham Nawaz, General Secretary; Ahmad Raza Butt, Secretary Information; Ameer Hassan, Secretary Finance; and Adnan Badar, Secretary Coordination.
A PCS officer told The Nation that the unopposed victory of Naseem Sadiq would pave the way for the resolution of their demands. “Naseem Sadiq is very close to CM Shehbaz Sharif. It would be easy for him to convey provincial officers concerns to the CM,” the officer said while seeking anonymity.
Talking about the issues of PMS officers, the source revealed the provincial officers had to serve in grade-17 for twelve to fifteen years. “Key posts are not equally given to them (PMS officers) and when they are posted as Section Officers (SO) they are denied all facilities of a gazetted officer.”
Some section officer also said the creation of additional AC seats was a major concern because the PMS officers do not like to be posted as additional Assistant Commissioners. “The SOs be given all facilities of an officer like separate office, vehicle etc,” they demanded. As the provincial government has promoted private secretaries and superintendents to grade 17, they held, it is hard for an SO of the same scale to run the section. “The SOs should be upgraded like the government did in clerks and others cases,” they demanded.
A DCO of Punjab Civil Service suggested the government should empower its representative in the district which after establishment of district setups would be very weak. He said they would demand of the government to increase their share in all grades so they could enjoy better promotion prospects.
Responding a query, the DCO said Naseem Sadiq would face hardships while dealing with federal officers. “There are least chances of collision with the DMG officers (PAS) as it happened when Rai Manzor Nasir was PMS president,“ the officer asserted.