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#Comment #high #price #unearned #favour
Lahore: In any civilized, rules-based society, discretion is the exception-not normal. Nevertheless, in Pakistan, arbitrary powers have entered the structure of governance, eliminate merit and compromise with integrity and justice.
By design, discretion allows personal preferences to subdue rules, procedures and abilities – and by doing so, it kills merit. When a Prime Minister or Chief Minister has the power to soften the quality of eligibility – whether age, ability or experience – for critical appointments of public sector, results can be predicted: people with strong credentials are often ignored in favor of people with political contacts.
Such appointments meet the interests of the appointment rather than people or institutions. An individual who has his position for political patronage is more likely to be loyal to the law, the mandate of the institution or to his helper than the people, which aims to serve him. The appointment of regulators is no more harmful than the appointment. It is believed that these officials have worked as a free career – the guardian of people’s interest. Still, a sit -in chief executive’s eligibility eligibility is the ability to appoint regulators to ‘Will’. If a regulator can operate freely, his position depends on the goodwill of the same authority that aims to monitor or prevent them? Regulatory arrest is a real threat – and it often begins with discretionary appointments.
The fare for wider bureaucratic machinery is not good. Bureaucrats enjoy the discretion-acting files, producing pricing, clearing imports, or giving approval-and encourages rent. Consider the requirements of unnecessary documents in our import method: where Singapore cleanses imports in minutes through a paperless, rules -based system, Pakistan shines with bureaucratic red tape. This difference is not only in technology, but it is hesitant to abandon discretionary control.
The misuse of discretion in transfer and posting is probably the most visible. In Pakistan, senior officials of police, administration or tax services are turned like pieces on political bases. Loyalty to political guardians, rather than professional skills or performance, often determines the posting of an officer. The result is a notorious bureaucracy, unstable governance, and weak rule of law.
There is no reason why Pakistan cannot adopt working structural reforms anywhere else. For example, the armed forces have created a system of postings and balanced rotation systems between strict and profitable assignments. Promotions are achieved not by psoriasis, but by performing diverse and challenging conditions. Why can’t the civilian bureaucracy follow a similar model? Why should an officer be transferred to the voice of a political figure, sometimes in the weeks of appointment?
There is a simple truth in the heart of this matter: When individuals are applied unequally or bent to serve individuals, public confidence is lost. Institutions lose reputation. The path to correction begins with acknowledging that unpredictable discretion is not a sign of power – this is a sign of institutional weakness.
If Pakistan is to develop, it has to change the arbitrary powers with a transparent, rules -based system. Appointments should be made through independent commissions. Transfer and promotion should follow structure, performance policies. The import method should be made automatic and easy. And perhaps most importantly, the culture of political patronage should give a way to the culture of ability. Only then can we create institutions that serve the nation instead of some people.
