Civil service reforms are old wine in new bottle: observers.

ISLAMABAD -- The newly introduced reforms in the civil service are like old wine in a new bottle as most of the key measures announced by the government to stop promotions and take punitive actions against delinquent civil servants were part of the laws introduced by former military ruler retired Gen Pervez Musharraf, observers say.

Talking to Dawn, Adviser to the Prime Minister on Institutional Reforms Dr Ishrat Hussain said that the reforms of Gen Musharraf's era were introduced through an ordinance or notified through the Establishment Division like routine business and parts of them were later struck down by courts. 'This time the changes are in conformity with the Civil Service Act and other related laws,' he said.

'We made a mistake at the time that we waited for a year to introduce the reforms; however, by the time we finalised the reforms package, the Musharraf government was already on its exit,' Dr Hussain said.

The federal government on Wednesday unveiled the reforms for civil bureaucracy that would pave the way for 'forced' retirement of delinquent officials and introduce tough criteria for promotion of the bureaucrats.

Most of the rules were introduced by Musharraf regime, but later struck down by courts

After toppling the elected government of the then prime minister Nawaz Sharif, Gen Musharraf promulgated the Removal of Service (Special Powers) Ordinance 2000 on May 27, 2000 that enabled the competent authority to sack incompetent officers.

According to a former bureaucrat who had served in the Establishment Division and is well versed with the civil service laws, most of the reforms introduced by the PTI government were chalked out in the Musharraf era and had created unrest among the bureaucracy.

He said under the Civil Servants (Directory Retirement from Service) Rules 2020, grounds for directory retirement included adverse remarks in three personal evaluation reports (PERs) or three average PERs, being twice superseded for promotion to BS21 or below or not being recommended for BS-22 and having opted for plea bargain or voluntary return.

According to him, supersession is itself a punishment and it would be double jeopardy if an official was removed from service because of being superseded.

He said that the concept of an inquiry against a civil servant through competent authority was also introduced in the past, but it was not a time-saving methodology. 'Now the government has fixed a timeframe of 105 days to conclude the...