LAHORE: The Pakistan Administrative Service Association (Punjab Chapter) has issued a detailed and forceful defence of the existing federal–provincial civil service framework, stating that the present system of Pakistan Administrative Service (PAS) postings in the provinces is fully in accordance with the Constitution, settled law and long-standing agreements between the federation and the provinces.
Talking to The News, President of the PAS Association (Punjab Chapter) Babar Aman Babar said the current arrangement was not only lawful but also rooted in the administrative history of the subcontinent and Pakistan’s constitutional evolution since independence. He said the issue had already been resolved through political consensus, legislation and judicial scrutiny, and should not be reopened without a fresh and mutually agreed national framework.
The issue is pivoted around the current session of the Punjab Assembly, where some members briefly raised concerns over the appointment of federal officers to provincial posts and called for stricter implementation of provincial autonomy under the 18th Amendment. The issue was debated in the House, with calls for further review through a committee, but no final decision was taken.
Babar explained that before Independence, the Indian Civil Service (ICS), which functioned as a single, centralised service with officers allotted to provincial cadres. while the central government met its needs through deputation from the provinces. Pakistan inherited this administrative model at independence. He said that afterwards, an important question arose: whether Pakistan’s premier administrative service should function on a purely provincial basis or remain a centralised service common to the federation and the provinces. It was finally resolved in a conference of provincial premiers in Karachi in December 1949. According to Babar, it was at this conference that the provincial premiers unanimously agreed that Pakistan should have a centralised civil service operating on an all-Pakistan basis. This led to the formal establishment of the Civil Service of Pakistan through a cabinet resolution issued in November 1950, which clearly laid down the rationale.
Later the Civil Service of Pakistan (Composition and Cadre) Rules were framed in 1954 under the Government of India Act, 1935, thereby creating a civil service common to both levels of government. These rules, he added, formed the backbone of the administrative system that continues to this day. The constitutions of 1956, 1962, the 1972 Interim Constitution and the Constitution of 1973 all expressly protected existing laws, rules and administrative arrangements unless altered by the competent legislature, he added.
Referring to the Constitution of 1973, Babar said Article 240 clearly recognised all-Pakistan services as services common to the federation and the provinces. He added that Articles 241 and 268 further ensured that all existing service rules and orders would continue in force unless amended or repealed by the appropriate authority. He also referred to the Civil Servants Ordinance, 1973, promulgated soon after the adoption of the Constitution, which empowered the federal government to frame rules and deemed all existing service rules to have been made under the new legal framework.
The PAS Association president said a clear post-sharing formula was finalised in September 1993, in a meeting chaired by the prime minister attended by governors, chief ministers and chief secretaries of all four provinces. The provincial services, he said were given the majority share at lower grades, while PAS officers were assigned a defined proportion at senior levels to ensure national cohesion, administrative continuity and uniform standards of governance.
Furthermore in compliance with Supreme Court directions in the Orya Maqbool Abbasi case, amendments were made to the 1954 Rules in 2014 to formally incorporate the agreed post-sharing formula and to define PAS share in the federal government. Additional amendments were carried out in 2020 and cadre rationalisation was undertaken in 2021, all in consultation with the provinces. He said these developments demonstrated that the system was dynamic, consultative and legally sound, rather than rigid or centralising.
The PAS Association president cautioned that civil servants should refrain from commenting publicly on matters that had already been settled through constitutional processes, political consensus and judicial rulings. He said any change to the existing framework could only be made through a new agreement between the federation and the provinces, and only if such changes offered clear and tangible benefits for governance, which, he added, had not yet been demonstrated.
He said that reopening settled administrative arrangements without consensus could undermine institutional stability and weaken the federation.
