LAHORE: The promotion matters of senior police officers serving in BS-19 and 20 across the country were delayed again after some members of the Central Selection Board-1 questioned the prescribed criteria for promotion.

The matter came under discussion in the CSB-I meeting held in Islamabad on Nov 26. It was board`s first meeting under the present government.

As the meeting began, some participants sought details of the prescribed eligibility criteria for the promotion of officers/candidates, an official privy to the information told Dawn.

Some members asked the board to explain the term `collective wisdom` which is usually used for promotion matters during the award of `discre-tionary` 15 marks by the board.

In the past, the criteria or the board`s collective wisdom has been the subject of a judicial review, which ultimately delayed promotion matters of senior police ofhcers.

The official said the members of the board also raised questions on the formula of distribution/allocation of marks, asking the meeting to review it in order to empower the CSB-1.

As far as the breakup of total 100 marks is concerned, annual confidential reports (ACRs) account for 50 marks; training at the National Institute of Management and the National Management Course accounts for 35 marks and the CSB-I has powers to award up to 15 marks.

Chaired by the Federal Public Service Commission (FPSC) Chairman Haseeb Athar, the meetingwas also attended by 18 members of the board.

The seven members of the CSB who attended the meeting included MNA Syed Fakhar Imam, Senator Syed Shibli Faraz, Saqib Aziz of Aviation Division, Finance Secretary Arif Ahmed Khan, Human Rights Division Secretary Rabia Javeri Agha, National Food Security & Research Secretary Hashim Popalzai and Minister for Inter-Provincial Coordination (IPC Division) Jamil Ahmed.

According to the further composition of the board, there are seven ex-officio members including the secretaries of establishment and cabinet divisions, the chief secretaries of all four provinces and the rector of National School of Public Policy, Lahore.

The four co-opted members of the board included Ministry of InteriorSecretary Maj (retired) Azam Suleman, Punjab IGP Amjad Javed Saleemi, National Police Bureau DG Shaukat Hayat and senior-most police officer Iqbal Mahmood (BS-22).

The official said that the participants of the meeting demanded increase in the discretionary marks up to 20 or 25 to increase the weight of the CSB-1 in the process of selecting candidates.

However, some of the members opposed the idea saying the step might enhance the influence of government functionaries in the process of selecting `candidates of their choice` Earlier, the same issue had surfaced during the meeting of the CSB-I in Dec 2016 when some of the promotion matters were delayed after the boardmembers demanded the federal authorities to review the discretionary marks.

According to the official, the board was to consider promotion cases of the police officers serving in BS-19 and 20 to fill some 33 vacant slots of BS-20 and 13 seats of BS-21.

He further said that the CSB-1 meeting further hit snags after it transpired that the BS-21 police officers who are serving as IGPs of three provinces have not been allowed to attend the board meeting.

According to the laid-down policy, the CSB-I was to be represented by IGPs of all the four provinces to get their recommendations for the promotion of police officers.

Currently, the IGPs of three provinces Sindh`s Syed Kaleem Imam, Khyber Pakhtunkhawa`s SalahuddinKhan Mehsud and Balochistan`s Mohsin Hassan Butt --are serving in BS21.

Only Punjab IGP Amjad Javed Saleemi attended the meeting as he is serving in BS-22 besides two other senior PSPs who participated as co-opted members for PSP items.

On the other hand, the official said, this condition is not mandatory for the chief secretaries serving in the same grades which shows discrimination towards the PSP.

The official said in the aftermath of the controversy on the prescribed criteria and the demands of some of the participants, the board`s meeting has been postponed for next week to discuss the issues and reconsider the cases of the police officers of BS-19 and 20 for promotion to the next grades.-AsifChaudhry