ISLAMABAD: The government of the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) parties repealed the tough laws introduced in 2020 to improve the performance of the civil service through stringent measures, including the forced retirement of “delinquent” civil servants.
The real challenge for Pakistan — beyond its current economic plight — is how to overcome its public governance problem. Corruption and maladministration are notorious in the civil bureaucracy.
To address the issue, the government of then-prime minister Imran Khan introduced the Civil Servants (Efficiency and Discipline) Rules, 2020 which entailed, among other things, the forced retirement of civil servants found guilty of corruption.
The law also applied to civil servants who entered a plea bargain with the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) or other investigating agencies, or if they had unbecoming conduct.
A notification to repeal the rules was issued by the Establishment Division on Monday.
The notification said Shehbaz Sharif repealed the rules “in the exercise of the powers conferred by sub-section (1) of section 25 of the Civil Servants Act, 1973 (LXXI of 1973) read with notification no. SRO120(I)/98, dated February 27, 1998”.
The rules under which the previous ones have been repealed are titled Civil Servants (Directory Retirement from Service) (Repeal) Rules, 2022.
“These rules shall come into force at once and shall be deemed to have taken effect on and from commencement of the Civil Servants (Directory Retirement from Service) Rules, 2020,” the notification read.
The Establishment Division issued another notification on Tuesday, directing all ministries and divisions to inform relevant departments and offices under their administrative control of the development for “compliance/further necessary action”.
The notification further said that “any actions taken, proceedings initiated, pending or concluded, recommendations or decisions made, orders passed or notifications issued under the repealed rules are hereby recalled and shall have no legal effect whatsoever”.
It added that “no interferences shall be drawn against civil servants affected or suffered under the repealed rules solely for the reason that proceedings of directory retirement under the repealed rules were initiated or finalised”.
