Cabinet asked to bring back asst perm secretary position
The Cabinet will be asked tomorrow to restore the bureaucratic position of assistant permanent secretary, which was abolished as part of 2001 reforms.
A well-informed source from Government House said the Office of the Civil Service Commission will raise the proposal of reviving the appointment of assistant permanent secretaries during the weekly Cabinet meeting.
The positions will have C-9 ranking, which is the same level as deputy director-generals of departments.
The source said the Office of the Civil Service Commission invoked the CSC Administration Act of B.E. 2551 to make the proposal. It assigned the Office of the Public Sector Development Commission to amend the second paragraph of Article 21 of the Bureaucratic Administrative Act to include the position of assistant permanent secretary.
During the 2001 bureaucratic reforms, the positions of assistant permanent secretaries were dissolved to streamline the chain of command in each ministry.
In the new proposal, the Office of the Civil Service Commission proposed that each ministry should have no more than four assistant permanent secretaries. But if a ministry requires more than four, extra assistants must be transferred within two years.
CSC Secretary-General Nonthi-korn Kanchanajittra said the CSC Office considered that the assistant permanent secretaries were still needed to help in the administrative work of permanent secretaries.
But the new assistant permanent secretaries would not be inserted into the existing chain of command. They would report directly to permanent secretaries to assist their work, Nonthikorn said.
After the Cabinet approves the proposal, each ministry will be able to create the positions immediately, he added.
