ISLAMABAD: The federal government has reconstituted the pay and pension commission by making the appointment of Zafar Ahmad Khan as Chairman.
Document states that the Ministry of Finance has notified the 21 members pay and pension commission including 8 members from private and 13 as Ex-officio members.
The PM has been pleased to revise not only the pay and pension commission but the Term of Reference (TORs).
Former CEO PIA, PTCL and Engro Zafar Ahmad khan would be now the chairman of commission while, Owner Fulcrum Rukhsana Asghar, Senior partner KPMG Amyn Malik, senior partner A.F Ferguson and Co Salman Hussain, retired civil servants Nazhat Bashir, Masood Akhar Chaudhary, Mahfooz Ali khan and vice-admiral shah Sohail Masood (r) would-be members.
Document states that the Pay & Pension Commission on the advice of Dr Ishrat Hussain shall submit its recommendations within three months.
Scope of Work
The scope of work of the Commission will include federal and provincial civil servants, other government servants, civilians paid from defence estimates.
All armed Forces/Civil Armed Forces personnel and holders of the posts in management scales and employees of such public sector corporations/autonomous/semi-autonomous bodies, other than banks and DFIs, which have adopted the scheme of basic pay scales in toto.
Employees of Public Sector Corporations/Autonomous/Semi-Autonomous bodies who are regulated under the pay scales prescribed by these organizations and the employees governed under the Industrial Relations-Ordinance, 1969 and/or whose financial terms of service are settled through collective bargaining agents. are excluded from the scope of work of the Pay & Pension Commission.
TOR of Commission
The TOR of the commission included a study on the adequacy of the existing Basic Pay Scale System and to evaluate the current salaries of government employees throughout the federation including the provincial government and recommend measures for its improvement and uniformity. In addition, it will also make recommendations for the streamlining of existing classification from BPS 1-22.
Moreover, study the separation of existing basic pay scales for specialized departments/occupations/cadres, Review of Special Scales such as Management Grades, Management Position Scales (MP Scales), Special Professional Pay Scales (SPPS), Project Pay Scales and propose measures for uniformity and improvement.
Furthermore, the TOR of the commission also included a review of admissible regular allowances as well as special incentives, existing parks as well as facilities, to align the compensation of the government employees with the market, to propose measures as to how to merge the present allowances and ad-hoc allowances into the pay scales and to propose measures to bring uniformity in the present salaries being drawn by different divisions of the government in consonance with the professional expertise of the employees.
It is also mandated to research international best practices of how civil servants are remunerated and how pensions are paid, especially with regards to the countries that are in the region and similar to Pakistan but better performers, Highlight existing distortions and anomalies in the pension scheme and recommend remedial measures and Verify the sustainability of the current model after critically evaluating future liabilities through an actuarial study.
