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Attorney General's Office has given its legal opinion to the Civil Service Commission that permanent secretary posts of ministries abolished since 11 November 2008 remain automatically terminated. AG Office also noted that the Civil Service Law is formulated to have one permanent secretary in each ministry.
The legal opinion comes as no surprise. Everyone except the civil Service Commission has been saying all along that the Commission's decision to retain 2 to 3 permanent secretaries in some ministries is illegal. Article 54 (Haa) of the Civil Service Act says a Permanent Secretary's post must be created and filled in each responsible office of the government. The wording of this article and its context leaves little doubt as to its meaning: each ministry must have one and only one permanent secretary.
Having two permanent secretaries in a ministry is more than a mere cosmetic issue. It dilutes the responsibilities of a permanent secretary (PS) described in Article 55 of the Act, and weakens the line of authority from minister to PS and downwards to civil service staff.
Simply not true
In its defense Civil Service Commission has said that it is the practice in some developed countries to have more than one permanent secretary in an institution. This is misleading. In countries with posts equivalent to permanent secretaries (head of the civil service in an institution equivalent to a ministry) such posts are single. They may be supported by deputy secretaries, joint secretaries, additional secretaries, second permanent secretaries or other similar posts. But this is an entirely different matter. The permanent secretary remains one.
[For related article in Dhivehi click here]
8 comments:
Even after AG's ruling they will not change. Civil Service Commission is very head strong.
Why is civil service in disarray even after 1 year? it is still bloated and inefficient.
It's too early to blame the commission. before leaving former president gayoom did so much mischief. it's diffcult to correct all that soon.
The solution is very simple. Each ministry should have one permanent secretary and those PSs from the abolished ministry could be posted as Deputy Permanent Secretaries...Coz CSC has already created DPS posts in the province offices so why not create such posts in the ministries and assign the posts to thos PSs from the abolished ministries.
our people still don't understand difference between civil service and political appointees. it will take time.
The commission is hesitant to give the axe treatment so high up the pyramid. That maybe a reason, don't you think!
Civil service commission apparently has a contract for x number of years with all permanent secs. There was no exit strategy in the contract.Surely civil etc. Service commission need to be educated,enlightened,trained
The CSC is always do things not in complaince with the law and try to defend themseleves. In the matter of PS too it is very clear that no two permanent secretaries can work in Ministry of Health and Family or in other ministries.
It is close to one year since Civil Service Act came into force but CSC is still not practising modern management in the organization and for that matter worse than previous PSD attached to President's Office.
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