- The reform panel for public servants is divided over specialized recruitment.
- The Prime Minister briefed on discord over the future of Pakistan’s bureaucracy.
- Reformer proposes a shift from generalist to specialist CSS system.
The High-Level Implementation Committee for Civil Service Reforms is sharply divided over the future shape of Pakistan’s bureaucracy, with federal ministers strongly backing the introduction of a specialized recruitment system, while senior bureaucrats, mostly belonging to the Pakistan Administrative Service (PAS), oppose any major move away from the existing generalist framework.
Sources familiar with the deliberations said the prime minister has been briefed on the internal rift. If consensus remains elusive, the committee is likely to submit two separate and competing sets of recommendations on civil service induction and recruitment to the prime minister’s final decision.
The reform proposals stemmed from recommendations by the Civil Service Reforms Committee headed by Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal, which had called for a fundamental restructuring of the CSS examination and recruitment process.
According to the committee’s recommendations, which were referred by the cabinet to the implementation committee with a view to preparing an implementation plan for the reforms, the current generalist model should gradually give way to a specialized recruitment system, either through a cluster-based examination or separate examinations for each subject group under the CSS framework.
Under the proposed model, candidates will be assessed based on clearly defined academic qualifications and subject relevance, with successful candidates seconded directly to specific posts rather than being admitted as generalists.
The recommendations get support from the Pakistan Institute of Development Economics (PIDE) report, which suggested aligning optional subjects to service group preferences. For example, finance-related subjects for the Inland Revenue Service (IRS) and criminology for the Police Service of Pakistan (PSP).
One of the most debated proposals concerns the exam language. The committee has proposed to allow candidates to attempt selected compulsory papers such as Essay, Precis and Composition, Pakistan Studies, Islamiyat and Current Affairs – in either English or Urdu in the preliminary phase.
The proposal is backed by the Federal Public Service Commission’s five-year performance report, which identifies English essay and Pakistan studies as the subjects with the highest failure rates. In the 2022 CSS exam, nearly 99% of candidates failed in both papers, raising serious concerns about whether language proficiency has become a barrier to talent selection.
Sources pointed out that even internationally recognized scholars, including Rhodes and Gates scholars, have failed to qualify the CSS exam due to these language limitations.
The committee has further recommended that the possibility of testing all CSS subjects in Urdu can eventually be introduced. The reform package also proposes to raise the MPT (MCQs-Based Preliminary Test) pass threshold from 33% to 40% without negative marking. The test may include GRE- or SAT-style questions to better assess analytical and logical reasoning.
To increase transparency, the committee has recommended developing and publishing objective criteria for written examinations and viva voce along with graded psychological and psychometric evaluations.
Another key proposal calls for full digitization of the CSS examination process with the aim of reducing the overall recruitment cycle to six months or less.
To address persistent shortfalls in provincial and minority quotas—especially in Balochistan and Sindh—the committee has proposed affirmative action, including additional trials for candidates from underrepresented groups.
But senior PAS officers sitting on the implementation committee, which is also headed by Ahsan Iqbal, are against replacing the current Central Allocation System (CAS) and generalist induction model.
They argue that Pakistan’s administrative structure requires civil servants with broad exposure across sectors, maintaining that the existing system is time-tested and has ensured administrative coherence since independence.
According to their view, the current system should be refined and strengthened rather than introducing an entirely new specialized bureaucracy, warning that excessive entry-level specialization could fragment governance and weaken coordination between ministries.
Ministers are of the view that we need more space for domain knowledge experts in the civil service and better promotion opportunities for specialists to attract professionals and specialists into the civil service. At present, specialist cadres have to wait over 15 years to be promoted, and the majority retire at grade 19 or 20.
The corporate sector initiates professionals and turns them into generalists as they move up the ladder, they said.
Originally published in The News
