PMS Exam in Pakistan | Criteria, Salary and its Promotion Scope

  

What is PMS Exam in Pakistan:

PMS stands for Provincial Management Service. It’s a competitive exam being conducted by provincial governments of Pakistan through its Commissions namely Punjab Public Service Commission (PPSC), Sindh Public Service Commission (SPSC), Balochistan Public Service Commission (BPSC), Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Public Service Commission (KPSC), Azad Jammu & Kashmir Public Service Commission (AJKPSC). Candidates have to clear PMS test including written test, psychology test and interview; who passed these PMS tests are offered government job as First Class Officer (Grade 17). An officer passing this exam is called PMS Officer.

PMS Introduction

Provincial Management Service – PMS is one of the government services. The PMS came into existence on January 17, 2014 in the province of Punjab upon notification by the S&GAD, Government of the Punjab – Pakistan. In Pakistan, it was established by the provincial governments in a bid to improve the service structure of bureaucracy in the provinces. Though Federal Bureaucracy especially Pakistan Administrative Service (formerly District Management Group / DMG) predominantly controls the provincial administration in Punjab and other provinces, the Provincial Management Service Officers have also been given considerable share in posts in Punjab.

Provincial Management Service – PMS consists of government-officers appointed directly in Grade-17 through competitive exam conducted by Public Service Commission at provincial level. PMS Officers appointed in Scale-17 get promotion in Scale-18, Scale-19 and Scale-20 as per notified Service Rules called PMS Rules, 2004. Commonly, PMS Officers are posted as Section Officer, Assistant Commissioner, Magistrate, Deputy Secretary, Additional Secretary, DCO, DG, Commissioner, Secretary or any other equivalent post of their grade. PMS Officers are important unit in the top level bureaucracy of the province and they perform their duties at Tehsil, District, Division and Provincial level at important posts.

Difference between PCS and PMS

PCS stands for Provincial Civil Service and PMS stands for Provincial Management Service. Both are same as PCS service has been merged into PMS service. PCS had two tiers namely PCS-Executive and Provincial Secretariat Service (PSS). Like PMS Officers, PCS Officers were appointed through competitive exam by the Public Service Commission. Those who were in higher merit opted PCS-Executive and rest joined Secretariat Service. In the year 2004, these two groups (PCS-Exe and PSS) were combined under the banner of Provincial Management Service (PMS) which includes all posts previously held by PCS and PSS Officers. Further, numbers of posts for PMS Officers have also been increased.

Qualification Requirements for PMS Exam

1. Graduation in any discipline with minimum Second Division from a recognized university.
2. All male, female and transgender, domiciled in Punjab, can apply for PMS Exam in PPSC.
3. Fresh graduates and already job holders in private or public sector are eligible.

PMS Age Limit

As per Advertisement No.12/2020 by PPSC PMS age limit is 21 to 30 years on 1st January 2020. Age relaxation is allowed in following cases:

1. In case of officials serving in connection with the affairs of the Federal Government who are domiciled in the Punjab as well as the officials serving in connection with the affairs of the Punjab Government having at least 4 years service as such, the upper age limit shall be 35 years.
2. For special persons, maximum 10 years relaxation in upper age limit shall be allowed as per Punjab Civil Servants Recruitment (Relaxation of Upper Age Limit) Rules, 1976.

As per Government of the Punjab, S&GAD Notification No. SOR-III(S&GAD)1-25/94(P) dated 29-11-2012, Punjab Delegation of Powers (Relaxation of Age) Rules, 1961 shall not apply to the posts of the Government required to be filled through Combined Competitive Examination conducted by the Punjab Public Service Commission.

The cutoff date for determining the eligibility as far as age is concerned shall be the 1st January 2020. However, the candidate must fulfill and complete all other preconditions/ qualifications for the examination on or before the Closing Date as given in this Advertisement. The candidates will produce the original certificates at the time of Psychological Assessment and Interview to authenticate their claim in the application form

PMS Jobs

The PPSC holds this exam as and when PMS posts are available in the Punjab Province. Since its inception, PMS exam is being taken on more or less three years basis. PMS Exam 2020 has been announced.

PMS Exam Criteria

PMS Exam is a combination of written test (comprising of 1200 marks) and Interview/ Viva Voce (comprising of 200 marks). PMS criteria is as follow:

1. Negative marking is done deducting 0.25 marks for each wrong answer in the Objective (MCQ) paper of General Knowledge.
2. Non-Muslims candidates have the option either to attempt paper in Islamic Studies or Ethics (Combination of both Subjective and Objective).
3. The candidates have to take compulsory as well as optional subjects from PMS Syllabus defined by the PPSC.

Important Information About PMS Exam

1. The minimum standard for the question papers is of graduate level.
2. The Candidate have to obtain 40% marks in each paper and 50% marks in the aggregate i.e. 600 marks to qualify for interview. Thereafter, a candidate also have to secure 50% marks in the interview to be held eligible for final merit list of successful candidates.
3. Besides Open Merit quota, Special zone, Special person and Minorities quotas are considered.
4. The examination is held at Lahore, Rawalpindi, Multan, Bahawalpur, DG Khan, Faisalabad and Sargodha districts.

Job Description of PMS Officer

Newly appointee PMS Officer undergoes mandatory training at Management & Professional Development Department (MPDD), Lahore for a period of six months. After this MPDD training, a PMS Officer may be assigned following jobs / postings:

1. Posting as Assistant Commissioner (Under Training) / AC (UT) for a period of 03 months. This posting enables an officer to have know-how of the working of Assistant Commissioner in Tehsil.
2. Newly appointed PMS Officer is required to work first 02 years of his/her service in Civil Secretariat. This practice is done to make the officer go through the practical environment and learn the basic techniques of official working in government departments. In Civil Secretariat different types of posts await for newly appointed PMS Officer. He /She may be posted as:
   1. Section Officer General
   2. Section Officer Establishment
   3. Section Officer Technical
   4. Section Officer Budget
   5. Section Officer Inquiries
   6. Section Officer Litigation
   7. Section Officer Planning
3. Field Postings for a newly appointed PMS Officer are as under:
1. Assistant Commissioner
2. Special Judicial Magistrate
3. Sub-Registrar
4. District Monitoring Officer
5. General Revenue Assistant
6. Deputy Director Anti-Corruption.

PMS Officers Salary

After appointment, the PMS Officer gets salary of Basic Scale-17 along with allowances and financial benefits as admissible to Punjab Government employees. Mostly at the beginning of their job, PMS Officers are posted as Section Officer in any department of Civil Secretariat. A PMS Officer salary can be estimated as follow:

Pay Type	Amount
Basic Pay (Minimum)	30,370.00
Special Allowance 20% (2009)	2,118.00
Adhoc Relief Allowance 2016 10%	2,544.00
Adhoc Relief Allowance 2017 10%	3,037.00
Adhoc Relief Allowance 2018 10%	3,037.00
Adhoc Allowance 2019 5%	1,518.50
Civil Secretariat Allowance @50%	15,185.00
Convey Allowance 2005	5,000.00
Medical Allowance 15% (16-22)	2,396.00
House Rent 45% (2008) (big city)	4,432.50

Gross Salary of PMS Officer(Approximate) Rs.

69,638