Civil Awards nominations: Cabinet Division revises policy and guidelines

ISLAMABAD: The Cabinet Division has revised policy and guidelines for Civil Awards-2024 for making nominations for Pakistan Civil Awards, official sources told Business Recorder.

Pakistan Civil Awards are conferred under the provisions of Article 259(2) of Constitution of Pakistan, read with the Decorations Act 1975 and Item No. 11A of Schedule V-B of the Rules of Business, 1973, upon the most meritorious and distinguished Pakistani citizens and foreign nationals every year to acknowledge their exceptional achievements/services to Pakistan.

The policy guidelines for recommending and processing Civil Awards have been issued from time to time. To uphold the prestige and sanctity of the highest National Awards, the Prime Minister has approved the revised “policy/guidelines for Civil Awards - 2024” and “quantified proformae for evaluation.”

The aim is to ensure that the most outstanding persons with irrefutable credentials/achievements are selected. Therefore, the guidelines and proformae have been improved and updated to focus on ‘benefit to public’ and ‘excellence’, rather than routine achievements.

In addition, more clarity has been brought in defining the role of the Nominating Agencies and committees, for greater transparency and objectivity.

The revised “policy and guidelines for Civil Awards-2024” are for making nominations for Pakistan Civil Awards henceforth. This includes revised Awards Policy and Guidelines, Quantified Proformae, Awards Sub-Committees and Main Awards Committee.

The main points are as follows:- (i) specified nominating agencies shall constitute and notify the “Scrutiny Committee” and “Awards Recommending Commit-tee”, as required by para 3(c) of revised Policy and Guidelines; (ii) nomination for Pakistan Civil Awards from specified nominating agencies shall first be scrutinized by the Scrutiny Committees;(iii) then nominations will be evaluated and recommended by the Awards Recommending Committees; (iv) quantified Proformae for the relevant field shall be duly filled (no column to be left blank); (v) citations (300-350) of the nominee must contain a lucid and precise account of the achievements in the respective field, besides containing aspects like personal bio-data, qualification, experience, impact on society and any previous authentic recognition award, etc. A soft copy of the citation, both in English and Urdu (MS Word and Inpage) should also be provided in a flash drive ;(vi) citation and Quantified Proforma shall be the signed by the Chairman of the Award Recommen-dation Committee (Federal Secretary/Provincial Chief Secretary); and (vii) no other Ministry/Division shall directly initiate a summary for conferment of Civil Award to the Prime Minister, without routing it through the Cabinet Division. All the Ministries/ Provincial Government have been requested that the revised Awards Policy and Guidelines may be followed in letter and spirit for nomination process and be sent to all concerned, and may also be placed on website for wide circulation.

The Cabinet Division has further requested the ministries/provincial government that nominations for Pakistan Civil Awards-2024 along with 45 hard and soft copies of the recommendation form, relevant Quantified Proformae, Citation(s) in English and Urdu containing 250-300 words along with minutes of the Award Recommending Committee meeting must reach the Cabinet Division latest by April 30, 2024.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2024