The federal cabinet has withdrawn its June 2024 decision to cap annual board fees for bureaucrats at Rs. 1 million after widespread non-compliance.
The Finance Division issued a formal notification this month, canceling the policy ab initio following a Cabinet Division directive dated June 22, 2025.
The original cap, driven by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar, required bureaucrats to surrender excess board fees to the national treasury. However, most officials ignored the directive.
Some entities, including PARCO and PTCL, pay up to Rs. 1.4 million per meeting, with other boards offering Rs. 100,000 to Rs. 250,000 per session.
The finance ministry also withdrew its earlier memorandum enforcing the cap. Since implementation failed, the cabinet nullified the decision as if it had never been taken.
shameful act that inspite of getting it implemented they withdrew their order.
This is a very minor case of non compliance besides evasion of taxes, penalties, non payment of utility bills by public sector. Billions remain uncollected.
There semes something not quite right here. Is it being seriously suggested that senior civil servants have ignored an official rule, with impunity, so the rule, helplessly, is being withdrawn, instead of being rigorously enforced? One hopes that this would not be the case since it, otherwise, presents a pathetic picture of the Government’s deteriorating ability in obtaining compliance with official rules from its own civil servants. Secondly, as practiced in Pakistan’s armed forces, shouldn’t senior civil servants be required to serve on the committees and boards of official entities, as part of their normal functions, without the expectation of additional payments?