Central Superior

Services

The Central Superior Services (CSS; or

Bureaucracy) is a permanent elite
bureaucratic authority, and the civil service
that is responsible for running the civilian
bureaucratic operations and government
secretariats and directorates of the
Cabinet of Pakistan.[1] The country's civil
service is headed by the Establishment
Secretary of Pakistan, who reports directly
to the Prime Minister. The Prime Minister
is the final authority on all matters
regarding the civil service and the prime
minister of pakistan has instructed to
follow qouta system as it is the only
current hope for pakistan as this is the
only way we can stop talented individuals
from karachi to be a part of it

The civil service defined itself as "key

wheels on which the entire engine of the
state has to move."[1] Derived from the
colonial legacy of the former Indian Civil
Service, the civil service came into its
modern formation immediately after the
establishment of Pakistan as a "Civil
Service of Pakistan".[2] During its time of
formation, the bureaucracy produced
Ghulam Ishaq Khan who would go on to
become the President of Pakistan but later
the civil services of pakistan got into trap
of qouta system which stopped many
young individuals from being a part of it
and that's how the decline of pakistan
started. It had influence on many of the
state's defence, internal, foreign and
financial policies.[3] In 1971, it was re-
organized and reestablished under
"Chapter I: Part-XII, Article 240" of the
Constitution of Pakistan which gave it
foundation and constitutional status.[4]
The civil bureaucracy closely collaborated
with the military establishments of
Pakistani Armed Forces in issues
concerning the national security.[2] The
bureaucracy consists of 12 directorates
that provide vital office and secretariat
related duties to the Government of
Pakistan.[5] The provincial bureaucracies
are headed by the respective Chief
Secretaries of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Sindh,
Punjab and Balochistan. The highest
attainable rank for an officer who serves in
the country's bureaucracy is BPS-22 grade.
The most influential civil servants belong to the
Pakistan Administrative Service and the highest-
ranking civil service positions are the federal
secretaries and provinical chief secretaries

The Civil Service of Pakistan selects only

7.5% of the applicants by merit, education,
qualification and experience[6] while the
92.5% are selected by a quota system. The
civil service exams are competitive[1] and
provides equal opportunities to males and
females, depending on their
qualifications.[7] The CSS Examinations are
held at the start of every year. The exams
are conducted and supervised by the
Federal Public Service Commission.[7] CSS
exams have a reputation of a very low
pass percentage, in 2015, only 3% of the
12,176 participants cleared the multi-
staged exam.[8]

Prominent CSS Officers

Qudrat Ullah Shahab
Ghulam Ishaq Khan
Usman Ali Isani
Roedad Khan
Mohammed Ikramullah
Tariq Bajwa
Nasir Mahmood Khosa
Shehzad Arbab
Tehmina Janjua (serving)
Rizwan Ahmed (serving)
Sohail Mahmood (serving)
Rabiya Javeri Agha (serving)
Jawad Rafique Malik (serving)
Sikandar Sultan Raja (serving)
Nargis Sethi
Masood Khan
Salman Bashir
Fawad Hasan Fawad (serving)
Usman Ali Isani
Fazal-ur-Rehman
Syed Abu Ahmad Akif
Shahid Aziz Siddiqi
Allah Dino Khawaja (serving)
Aizaz Ahmed Chaudhry
Safwat Ghayur
Abdul Basit (diplomat)
Riaz Mohammad Khan
Javid Husain
Inam-ul-Haq (diplomat)
Shamshad Ahmad
Riaz Khokhar
Masood Khan
Najmuddin Shaikh
Tanvir Ahmad Khan
Humayun Khan (diplomat)
Niaz Naik
Abdul Sattar (diplomat)
Agha Shahi
Jalaludin Abdur Rahim
Tasneem Noorani
Nasir Durrani
Jalil Abbas Jilani
Moazzam Jah Ansari (serving)
Naela Chohan
Ahsan Basir Sheikh
Irshad Ali Sodhar (serving)
Shehryar Gul Memon (serving)
Orya Maqbool Jan
Hamid Ahmad Qureshi (PAS/1962
batch)
 G.M. Sikander
Hidayatullah Khan Mohmand

Constitutional structure
The Constitution of Pakistan lays down
separate services for the central
government and the provincial
governments. Although, both types of the
governments are required to regulate their
civil services through the "Article 240 of
Chapter I of Part XII", in case of the central
reservation of the government and by the
provisional assembly decrees for officers
subjected in legislative list of the
provinces. The idea of civil service was
established by the British Empire during
the colonial period of the British Indian
Empire. It was derived into as "Pakistan
Civil Service" in 1947 and reorganised and
re-established into its modern form in
1973. The Constitution of Pakistan
describes the constitutional status as
below:

Appointment to service of
Pakistan and conditions of
service: (a) in the case of the
civil services of the Federation,
posts in connection with the
affairs of the Federation and
Civil Services by the
Parliament).
(b) in the case of the services of
a provinces, the posts in
connection with the affairs of
the provinces, by act of the
Provincial Assembly.
Existing rules: All rules and
orders in force immediately
before the commencing day
shall, so far as consistent with
the provisions of the
Constitution.
Public Service Commission:
The Parliament in relation to the
 affairs of the Federation, and the
Provincial Assemblies of the
Provinces in relation to affairs
of the Provinces, may, by law,
provide for the establishment
and constitution of a Public
Service Commission.

— Part XII: Chapter 1:

Services and Miscellaneous
[Article 240–242], source[4]

Naming Convention
The Constitution of Pakistan does not set
the legal name for the civil service and
there is no service named as "Central
Superior Services of Pakistan" (or CSS).[9]
The constitution allowed the government
appointed officer and chairman of the
Federal Public Service Commission to
choose the name.[9] The term "CSS"
emerged during the first public
examination of the civil service for the
appointment on posts at officer entry level
in the occupational groups of All-Pakistan
Unified Group (APUG).[9] The FPSC holds
the combine competitive exam annually
under the title advertised as exam for
"Central Superior Services"— the term of
colonial days which survived reforms.[9]
Similarly, the use of word "Central" instead
of that "Federal"; as well as the term
"Superior" are also the legacy of the
past.[9] These were relevant when there
was central government under 1956
constitution and classes existed in the civil
service.[9] The 1973 constitution abolished
all classes in the civil service as the
concept of occupational groups was
introduced.[9]

Act
Following the foundations laid in the
Constitution, the federal government
promulgated The Civil Servants Act, 1973
and each province enacted its own Civil
Servants Acts. The law allow civil service
of federation, and of provinces, to be
regulated as per rules notified under these
enactments. Consequently, both sets of
governments have notified Civil Servants
(Appointment, Transfer and Promotion)
Rules, 1974. The qualification and method
(the way) of filling of all posts is regulated
by these rules. The posts at initial officer
level i.e. BS-17, are classified to be filled by
way of promotion or transfer and by direct
recruitment under share fixed for each
category. The recommendation for
appointment in BS-17, under direct
recruitment share, is done by FPSC, which
is established under its own law as a
requirement of the Constitution. The rest
of posts reserved for departmental
officers under promotion quota and posts
under appointment by transfer is confined
for officers inducted through lateral entry
or for hardship cases coming from surplus
pool. In practical terms, those appointed
on posts in direct appointment quota in
each occupational groups through CCS
Exam have natural advantage. They join
service at young age as compared to
departmental officers, and therefore reach
to the highest slots. Since the number of
direct officers at entry level are few but
their quotas in posts in BS-18 to BS-22 are
fixed on the higher side, therefore their
promotions are fast paced. These
arrangements makes the civil service
attractive for talented individuals and
instill sense of superiority and pride.
Currently, CSS Exams conducted by FPSC
include the following Occupational
Groups.

1. Pakistan Customs Services (PCS)[10]

2. Commerce & Trade Group (PCG)[11]
3. Foreign Service of Pakistan (FSP)[12]
4. Inland Revenue Service of Pakistan
(IRS)[13]
5. Information Services of Pakistan
(ISP)[14]
 6. Military Lands & Cantonment Group
(MLCG)[15]
7. Office Management and Secretariat
Group (OMG)[15]
8. Pakistan Administrative Service
(PAS)[16]
9. Pakistan Audit and Accounts Service
(PA&AS)[17]
10. Police Service of Pakistan (PSP)[18]
11. Postal Group (PG)[19]
12. Railways (Commercial & Transport)
Group (RCTG)[14]

History of civil services in

Pakistan
“
... Civil Service is the back-bone
of the State. Governments are
formed. Governments are
defeated; Prime Ministers come
and go; Ministers come and go;
but you stay on, and therefore,
there is a very great responsibility
placed on your shoulders ... ”
— Muhammad Ali Jinnah, Founder of Pakistan ,
source[2]

The civil Bureaucracy is a colonial legacy

in this part of the world. The British used
to rule the native population through
Indian Civil Service (ICS) and most of the
officers in ICS were British themselves. It
was in the early 20th Century that the
Indians also started competing against the
British and many Indians eventually made
it to the ICS. With time the independence
of Pakistan in 1947, the term 'Central
Superior Services' was used in Pakistan
and the concept of All-Pakistan Services
continued. The latter consisted of the Civil
Service of Pakistan and the Police Service
of Pakistan, whereas the Central Services
included the Pakistan Foreign Service and
a broad category of Finance and other
services. The Finance category included
the Pakistan Audit and Accounts Service,
Pakistan Railway Accounts Service,
Pakistan Military Accounts Service,
Pakistan Taxation Service, and the
Pakistan Customs and Excise Service. The
Central Services other than these included
the Pakistan Postal Service, Pakistan
Military Land and Cantonment Service,
Central Secretariat Service, and Central
Information Service. Each of these
services had its own cadre and
composition rules, specifying the total
cadre strength in terms of its number of
positions.

With the Civil Services Reforms of 1973 a

new system of Common Training Program
or CTP was introduced and all of these
occupational groups (12 at that time) were
required to go through a mandatory
combined training at Civil Services
Academy (CSA), Lahore. The batch of
officers who attended CSA in 1973 is
recognised as "1st Common". Up till 5th
Common the allocation of occupational
groups was done after the culmination of
Common Training Program but from 6th
Common onwards this task has also been
assumed by FPSC. Even till this day it is an
official procedure that once the
Probationary Officers successfully
complete their CTP then they undergo
some further Specialized Training Program
(STP) in their own professional
academies.
Pakistan Administrative
Service
The Pakistan Administrative Service, or
PAS (previously known as the District
Management Group or DMG before 1 June
2012) is an elite and most prestigious
cadre of the Civil Service of Pakistan.[20]
The Pakistan Administrative Service over
the years has emerged as the most
consolidated and developed civil
institution, with the senior PAS officers of
grade 22 often seen as stronger than the
government ministers. The service of PAS
is very versatile in nature and officers are
assigned to different departments all
across Pakistan during the course of their
careers. Almost all of the country's high
profile bureaucratic positions such as the
federal secretaries, the provincial chief
secretaries and chairmen of top-heavy
organisations like the National Highway
Authority, Trading Corporation of Pakistan
and State Life Insurance Corporation
usually belong to the elite Pakistan
Administrative Service.[21][22]

Armed forces and civil

services of Pakistan
Commissioned officers of Pakistan Army,
Pakistan Air Force and Pakistan Navy have
their own quota of 10% in all service
groups of the Central Superior Services but
historically they have only joined the
Pakistan Administrative Service
(previously known as the District
Management Group), Office Management
Group (OMG), Foreign Service of Pakistan
(FSP), and Police Service of Pakistan
(PSP). Usually officers who join the civil
services are of the rank of Captain /
Lieutenant / Flight Lieutenant (equivalent
to BPS-17 grade).[23] Rank are short listed
by respective Services Headquarters and
selected against this quota after interview
process. The interviews are conducted by
a committee headed by the Chairman of
the Federal Public Service Commission,
same as in the case for regular
candidates. Only the written exam is
waived.

Reform of civil services

Despite the fact that Civil Services of
Pakistan have been still running on the
pattern set out by British Raj (no major
change has been performed), the
Musharraf government started a major
reform process of it. The task was to be
performed by National Commission of
Government Reforms (NCGR) under the
chairmanship of Dr. Ishrat Hussain, the
former governor of State Bank of Pakistan.
The final report that was published in
September 2007 stated that four CSS
cadres i.e., Pakistan Railway Service,
Pakistan Postal Service, Commerce and
Trade Group, and the Information Service
of Pakistan, should be axed. According to
the recommendation, Postal and Railway
Service should be made autonomous
commercial bodies, Commerce and Trade
and Information Services be suspended till
further notice. The report also highlighted
broad changes in the examination system,
with the recommendation of a personality
test be made part of the selection
process.[24]
2016 reforms

The civil services reforms have been under

consideration and the Federal Minister for
Planning, Development and Reforms
Ahsan Iqbal has announced that the upper
age limit would be increased up-to 30
years instead of 28, for taking the Central
Superior Services (CSS) examination from
2017 onwards.;[25][26] where as the
increase educational qualification by 14 to
16 years.[27] The CSS Aspirants collected
funds from their pocket money and filed a
petition in the Lahore High Court and
Peshawar High court for the age
relaxation.[28][29]
On August 2, 2016, the Planning
Commission announced plans to re-
structure the examination process by
dividing the Civil Superior Services (CSS)
under three cluster programme comprising
three categories including General,
Finance and Information by abolishing the
existing generalised system.[30] The plan
would come into effect from 2018 and
would require participants to possess a
four-year bachelor's degree in a relevant
discipline, for information cluster, a degree
in mass communication, journalism or
information science will be required, while
for finance cluster a degree in economics,
finance or related discipline will be
required.[31][32]

On January 1, 2016, the Planning

Commission began phasing out the
Annual Confidential Report (ACRs) with
the key performance indicators (KPIs) to
determine promotions of civil servants.[33]

CSS Examination and

statistics
The CSS examination is extremely
competitive ; for every one aspirant
selected there are 2000 who are not; in
2015, more than 36000 candidates
competed for 158 post as compared to
2011 when approximately 19,000
candidates participated in the open public
examination of the civil service; only 8.0%
of them were qualified for 188 government
jobs.[34]

CSS exams are held ever year in the entire

country. These are conducted by the
Federal Public Service Commission of
Pakistan(FPSC). FPSC not only conducts
the CSS exams but also posts successful
candidates to various departments of the
Civil Service.

See also
Civil Services Academy
 Police Service of Pakistan
Pakistan Administrative Service
Federal Secretary
Establishment Secretary of Pakistan
Chief Secretary Punjab
Chief Secretary Sindh
Chief Secretary Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
Chief Secretary Balochistan

References
1. Government Officials. "Civil Service of
Pakistan" . Government of Pakistan.
Government of Pakistan. Retrieved
5 September 2012.
2. Government of Pakistan. "District
Management Group" . District
Management Group. Retrieved
5 September 2012.
3. Author. "Journey of System" . Geo
Television Series (Educational
Directorate). Geo Documentaries.
Retrieved 5 September 2012.
4. Constitution of Pakistan. "Part XII:
Chapter 1: Services (Miscellaneous
Article 240)" . Constitution of Pakistan.
Constitution of Pakistan. Retrieved
5 September 2012.
5. CSS. "Directorates of Civil Services" .
Government of Pakistan.
 6. "CSS Recruitment Policy – CSS Forums" .
Cssforum.com.pk.
7. Government of Pakistan. "Eligibility and
Rules of CSS" . Eligibility and Rules of
CSS. Retrieved 5 September 2012.
8. "368 candidates pass CSS exam, 238
qualify for service - The Express
Tribune" . 2016-04-27. Retrieved
2016-08-19.
9. Editorial and Authorship reports and
summaries (February 2010). "Reforming
Pakistan's civil service" . Asia Report.
International Crises Group. 1 (1): 11–15.
10. "Civil Service of Pakistan" . Csspk.com.
11. "Civil Service of Pakistan" . Csspk.com.
12. "Civil Service of Pakistan" . Csspk.com.
13. "Civil Service of Pakistan" . Csspk.com.
14. "Civil Service of Pakistan" . Csspk.com.
15. "Thecssforum" . Thecssforum.com.
16. "Civil Service of Pakistan" . Csspk.com.
17. "Accounts Group – Civil Service of
Pakistan" . Csspk.com.
18. "Civil Service of Pakistan" . Csspk.com.
19. "Civil Service of Pakistan" . Csspk.com.
20. Malik Asad (25 May 2014). "Boon for PAS
(Pakistan Administrative Service) angers
other civil service groups" . Dawn
(newspaper). Retrieved 29 June 2018.
21. Ali, Sameen (9 July 2018). "Is the
bureaucracy politically neutral during
elections?" . Dawn.com.
22. "Bureaucrats call for equal
representation - The Express Tribune" .
Tribune.com.pk. 13 September 2018.
23. "FPSC Newsletter" (PDF). FPCS.
Retrieved 14 July 2015.
24. Syed Hamzah Saleem Gilani (23 February
2015). "Reforming the Civil Services of
Pakistan" . Daily Times Pakistan.
Retrieved 2 February 2016.
25. Hassaan Ahmed (3 January 2016).
"Proposed CSS reforms get nod of
approval from relevant quarters" .
Pakistan Today. Retrieved 2 February
2016.
26. Abrar Saeed (10 September 2015). "Govt
decides to modify CSS exam, training" .
NAWAIWAQT GROUP OF NEWSPAPERS.
The Nation. Retrieved 2 February 2016.
27. Mehtab Haider (1 January 2016).
"Educational qualification for CSS to be
enhanced to 16 years, age limit by two
years" . THE NEWS INTERNATIONAL.
The News. Retrieved 3 February 2016.
28. Pakistan Today (16 November 2012).
"CSS age limit" . Pakistan Today.
Retrieved 2 February 2016.
29. Editor's Mail (19 November 2012).
"Arguments in favour of age relaxation
for CSS" . Pakistan Today. Retrieved
2 February 2016.
30. "Govt considering to conduct CSS exams
in three categories" .
www.thenews.com.pk. Retrieved
2016-08-19.
31. "All set for cluster-based CSS exams" .
www.thenews.com.pk. Retrieved
2016-08-19.
32. "Breaking News: Federal government
introduces three cluster program for CSS
| Dunya News" . Retrieved 2016-08-19.
33. "Educational qualification for CSS to be
enhanced to 16 years, age limit by two
years" . www.thenews.com.pk. Retrieved
2016-08-19.
34. Siddiqi, M. A. (25 April 2011). "A guide to
the CSS: Want to change Pakistan? Try
joining the government as an honest
bureaucrat" . The Express Tribune.

External links
Official website
Retrieved from
"https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?
title=Central_Superior_Services&oldid=883510212"

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