Editorial
The foundational principle of Pakistan’s constitutional arrangement, particularly after the landmark 18th Amendment, rests on administrative and fiscal federalism. Yet, this core concept is fundamentally undermined by the Federal Government’s continued, unconstitutional control over provincial bureaucratic positions. At the heart of this challenge is Article 240(b) of the Constitution, which explicitly reserves the authority for determining appointments and conditions of service for posts “in connection with the affairs of a Province” to the Provincial Assembly. This is not a gray area; it is a clear and non-negotiable directive that mandates the provincial legislature as the sole custodian of its own service structure.
The persistent practice of the Federal Establishment Division to post Pakistan Administrative Service (PAS) officers to senior provincial positions—including the coveted posts of Chief Secretary and key departmental heads—represents a clear act of administrative overreach. This practice compromises the very essence of federal governance. As the Association of Administrative Federalism (AOAF) has logically argued, when the Provincial Assembly elects a Chief Minister, but the Chief Secretary is appointed by the Federal Government, the federal structure is functionally rendered unitary. This dual authority creates an accountability deficit: the provincial political executive is answerable to the electorate for provincial performance, but the bureaucratic machinery implementing policy answers to Islamabad. This institutional schism must end.
Furthermore, the reported plan to revive the Executive Magistracy system—a function abolished in 2001 and inherently tied to law and order and local governance—is another attempt by the Federation to encroach upon the Provincial Assembly’s exclusive domain. Matters of local administration, including price control and law and order maintenance, are now fully devolved to the provinces. Any attempt to revive a system involving executive officers with quasi-judicial powers falls squarely under the legislative competence of the Provincial Assembly, not the Federal Establishment Division. Such an intervention not only bypasses the legitimate authority of the Provincial Assembly but also risks constitutional challenge on the grounds of violating the established separation of executive and judicial powers.
The Provincial Assembly is the constitutionally mandated champion of self-governance. It must cease its passive acceptance of federal intrusion and immediately move to enact its own service laws under Article 240(b). The Provincial Management Service (PMS) must be empowered and fully capacitated to fill all senior posts connected with provincial affairs. Protecting the provincial service structure is not a bureaucratic turf war; it is a fundamental act of safeguarding the right of the people to self-administer their own institutions. The Assembly’s failure to assert control over provincial posts is an abdication of its core constitutional duty and a betrayal of the trust placed in it by the electorate.
