Creder
SENIOR MEMBER
- Joined
- Nov 15, 2009
- Messages
- 1,935
- Reaction score
- 0
Restructuring of provincial departments under study
LAHORE, Oct 19: The Punjab government is mulling over a proposal for total restructuring and reorganisation of all provincial departments and non-departmental entities.
In addition, the proposal calls for creation of Justice Department, Land Management Department and Punjab Revenue Authority. The Punjab Revenue Authority will take over the tax administration functions of the Excise and Taxation Department and the Board of Revenue. The land functions of the Board of Revenue will go to the new Land Management Department.
A private consultant, the Technical Assistance Management Agency (TAMA), has advised the provincial government to merge some departments, dissolve the others and re-assign functions of the rest of them in order to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the government.
The government has already constituted a committee of its senior officials to examine the proposal.
The provincial authorities have undertaken the project High Level Government Review with the help of the United Kingdoms Department for International Development (DFID) to review the Punjab government as a whole by conducting an analysis of its functions to improve service delivery in the province.The main purpose of the exercise was to recommend a revised institutional architecture with allied institutional mechanisms.
Sources said the proposed restructuring and reorganisation of the government departments would be undertaken in phases after approval from the chief minister, Shahbaz Sharif. They were hopeful that the proposed actions would get the chief ministers stamp of approval.
The consultant has proposed consolidation of 11 departments dealing with different aspects of education, health, social welfare, agriculture, finance and development into four departments. It has suggested changing the functions of another 10 departments. The remaining departments have to be dissolved and their functions transferred to or attached to the other departments.
Non-departmental entities like the Public Prosecution Department and the Higher Education Department will also be restructured and attached to the provincial departments performing the same or similar functions.
The TAMA proposal classifies the government role in three categories: functions the government should pay for and perform (such as law and order); functions that the government should not pay for or perform (printing press); and functions that the government should pay for but necessarily perform itself (free basic education).
The proposal has broadly identified 20 categories as core functions for the government, reflecting its policy priorities. These functions have been clustered as 1) centre of government, 2) economic development, 3) social services, 4) natural resources, and 5) justice, home affairs and security. These functions, according to the proposal, should be funded by the government but may be outsourced, if required.
