Altaf Hamid Rao :
Noman Wazir, President, Association of Administrative Federalism Pakistan, writes to CM KPK:
MIRPUR (AJK), (Parliament Times) : :Noman Wazir, President, Association of Administrative Federalism Pakistan, has, in a detailed letter addressed to the Chief Minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa- KPK province, prayed, on behalf of his organization – the Association of Administrative Federalism, Pakistan to exercise his constitutionally mandated authority and post a Chief Secretary from Provincial Civil Servants.
Following is full text of letter of Wazir, President, Association of Administrative Federalism Pakistan, addressed to the Chief Minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa- KPK, released to the media late Monday:
“To, The Honorable Chief Minister, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
Peshawar, Honorable Sir,
Your esteemed office has asked the Federal government for the withdrawal of services of the incumbent Chief Secretary and posting of a new Chief Secretary. The post of Chief Secretary is a provincial post and the constitutionally mandated authority of posting Chief Secretary is with the Chief Minister.
It is a fact that the Federating units are constituted for the sole purpose of efficient public service delivery. But without the devolution of powers and authority to the federating units, the purpose of efficient public service delivery will not be served.
Fortunately, the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan has also distributed the powers, authority, and responsibilities between the Federal government and provincial governments. There are two lists of powers (Read-subjects), one is the federal legislative list part-1 (53 entries) and the other is the federal legislative list part 2 (18 entries), while the remaining powers rest purely with the provinces. The FLL Part-1 is purely federal subjects while FLL Part-2 is the mandate of the council of common interest (CCI) as mentioned in Articles153 and 154 of the Constitution.
Article 240(a) and (b), specifically provide that Parliament would make laws for the posts related to the affairs of the Federation and Provincial Assemblies would legislate laws for the posts in connection with the affairs of the Provinces. The authority and mandate of the subjects and the posts thereon are also delineated in the constitution. Federal Public Service Commission (FPSC) is mandated to recruit human resources for the FLL part-1 while the mandate for induction on the provincial subjects and the posts thereon is with the Provincial Public Service Commissions. The mandate and authority for FLL part-2 pertains to CCI and it has yet to be determined by the CCI or for that matter by the Parliament.
Furthermore, The 53 items of the federal list part I (including the 10 related to taxation) yield only six federal ministries. The rest are superfluous. These are defense (Entries 1, 2 &18), foreign affairs (Entries 3, 4, 5, 6, 17 & 32), finance (Entries 8, 9, 10, 12, 15, 16, 28, 29, 37, 42-54), communications (Entries 7, 22, 23, 34 & 35), commerce (Entries 19, 20, 24, 25, 26, 27, 30, 31, 36 & 39) and law (Entries 11, 13, 14, 41, 55, 56, 57, 58 & 59).
The 18 entries enumerated in the federal legislative list (part II) fall under the CCI. These include railways, Wapda (both were provincial subjects in the 1956 and 1962 Constitutions), mineral oil and gas, electricity (excluding the provincial part under Article 157), major ports, census, debt management, professions, standards (in institutions of higher education), inter-provincial coordination, and regulatory bodies under federal law. All other subjects are the business of the provinces.
They have even created a Ministry of National Harmony. Most of the ministries are either replicas of portfolios in the provinces or extensions of the above-mentioned six ministries. For example, health, education, food security, housing, narcotics, state & frontier affairs, privatization, religious affairs, etc are all superfluous.
Instead of limiting its mandate to six ministries, the federal cabinet has not only expanded its ministries to 34 but also created ministries for subjects that fall under the ambit of the CCI. All 28 superfluous ministries and illegal occupations in the provinces are just for grade 22. The greed for Grade 22 has paralyzed the entire nation.
The entire fraud of posting federal civil servants in provinces is through a fraudulent agreement of 1949 which doesn’t exist.
Therefore, the Association of Administrative Federalism, Pakistan requests your good office to exercise your constitutionally mandated authority and post a Chief Secretary from Provincial Civil Servants and request your good self to ask for a copy of the agreement, please. Your’s truly, Noman Wazir, President, Association of Administrative Federalism Pakistan”.