Civil service is supposed to be the backbone of any country and in a democratic entity it is the civil servants who are responsible for implementing on the ground the development agenda of the ruling party. Only an honest, efficient and capable civil administration can deliver the goods. It is, therefore, in the interest of every government worth its name to have best field and secretariat officers around .
Time was when recruitment to the administrative and secretariat services was made both in the central government and the provinces through a well regulated system, the hallmark of which was open written and oral competitive exam . Merit was, by and large, strictly adhered to and that was the precise reason that talented boys from every segment of the society whether they belonged to the elite or the working class stood equal chance of making it to the civil service. Small wonder a majority of civil servants belonging to the middle and lower middle class continued to fill all the key administrative positions in the country till mid 1970. The rulers of this country started gradually politicising civil service from 1970 onwards by ignoring the Public Service Commissions and making direct appointments to the key administrative positions under the so-called lateral entry schemes. In the provinces the governments started recruiting their blue-eyed boys to the administrative services as lawyer magistrates who were ultimately absorbed into the provincial executive service by one stroke of pen. Earlier, during Ayubian era induction of army officers into civil service had also started and those with the right connections in the corridors of power started penetrating into the civil, police and foreign services. Many of them ended as chief secretaries and the Inspector generals police also.
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