Govt contemplates adding new pay scales for senior bureaucrats

In an effort to boost efficiency, Islamabad is contemplating reorganising ministries and introducing new pay scales for senior officials and bureaucrats. As per credible reports, the civil service reforms committee put forth a proposal which suggested that ministries should be categorised and compensated considering the workload they are subjected to.

A senior official revealed that members of the committee were considering abolishing the preexisting Basic Pay Scale (BPS) in favour of a new system. However, reports claim that shelving the BPS may not be feasible given the existence of pay variations among different services.

The committee might add BPS-23 and BPS-24 to the pay scales. Currently, the BPS is capped at BPS-22, reserved for grade 22 public officers. The reason behind adding additional pay scales is to attract more talented individuals to work for the public sector.

Members of the committee debated regarding the inefficiencies that the current BPS system was causing. Committee members outlined the financial losses the national exchequer had to bear because of not having highly skilled officials on the Neelum-Jhelum hydropower project.

The chair highlighted that approximately seven federal ministries were facing significant shortfalls in terms of human resources. Reports hint that the power and energy ministries require a large number of talented individuals to run daily operations – which may be possible by offering financial incentives such as higher initial salaries.

According to credible reports, the Economic Affairs Division (EAD) released the results of a study that considered municipal and federal benefits that public servants are entitled to. Moreover, the aforementioned study outlined differences in compensation across regions and considered the effect of improving the benefits public servants are entitled to after their retirement.

While the committee’s finance secretary announced that the commission was against the abolishment of the BPS system, he did concede that the pay of officers should be adjusted considering the magnitude of their workload and tasks.

A sizable portion of members reportedly suggested that housing benefits be monetised for government officials. However, if put into motion, this step could result in the national exchequer losing out on over 23 billion rupees per annum.

This could prove to be fiscally damaging for cash-strapped Pakistan, which is already struggling to follow the austerity measures mandated by the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The additional finance secretary opposed monetising housing benefits as this would pave the way for other government employees to request similar benefits.