ISLAMABAD: Seventeen months have passed but High-Powered Selection Board (HPSB) meeting to consider promotion of federal bureaucrats from Grade-21 to 22 has not yet been convened.
The last meeting of HPSB was held in March 2025. Under the promotion policy, the board is required to meet twice a year. However, the meeting to consider promotions to Grade-22 has remained pending for 17 months.
The prolonged delay has caused anxiety and disappointment among senior bureaucracy, and several officers have retired while waiting for promotion.
Sources in the Establishment Division said all administrative preparations for holding the meeting had been completed. The division is now awaiting a green signal from Prime Minister’s Office for convening the HPSB meeting.
The meeting will be chaired by Prime Minister or Deputy Prime Minister. Pakistan Peoples Party Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari is also a member of the board and had been busy campaigning for Azad Jammu and Kashmir elections.
According to sources, the HPSB meeting is expected to be convened by the end of this month or early next month.
The meeting will consider promotion of eight officers of the Pakistan Administrative Service (PAS). It will also consider promotion of six officers of Police Service of Pakistan (PSP). Those likely to be promoted include FIA Director General Dr Usman Anwar, Punjab Inspector General Rao Abdul Karim and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Inspector General Zulfiqar Hameed.
The board will also consider promotion of four officers of Secretariat Group to Grade-2, along with one officer each from Inland Revenue Service and Information Group.
Overall, more than 30 officers from various services and groups are expected to be promoted.
Following the promotions, several federal ministry secretaries are likely to be changed. Secretaries currently serving on acting charge are expected to be regularised in the same ministries.
