The Chief Secretary of Sindh (Urdu: معتمدِ اعلٰی سندھ), also referred to as CS Sindh, is the bureaucratic chief and highest-ranking official of the Government of Sindh. The position holder is usually a Grade-22 officer of the Pakistan Administrative Service. The position of Chief Secretary is equivalent to the rank of Federal Secretary. The current Chief Secretary of Sindh is Syed Asif Hyder Shah, in office since March 12, 2024.
The Prime Minister directly appoints the Chief Secretary. The Chief Secretary also serves as the Cabinet Secretary of Sindh.
Powers The Chief Secretary Sindh is the top administrative authority of Sindh, holding a higher office than Provincial Ministers, controlling the entire government machinery and through whom all departments, operations and major provincial matters flow. They are appointed by the Prime Minister of Pakistan. They serve as the administrative head of the Government of Sindh and final authority of the Sindh bureaucracy. All Provincial Secretaries, Divisional Commissioners, police officials and other senior administrative officers report to the Chief Secretary. The Chief Secretary coordinates with the Chief Minister on all matters related to the province. The CS also coordinates closely with the Sindh Cabinet, ensuring that its policy decisions are executed across departments. The Chief Secretary is a key decision-maker in the Government of Sindh and oversees the implementation of major decisions across the province.
Workplace & Residence The Chief Secretary of Sindh is the official head of the Sindh Secretariat and their principal workplace is located there, being its highest-ranking official. The official residence of the Chief Secretary Sindh is the Chief Secretary House, also known as Hardley House. The residence is apart of the Red Zone and is also used as the Chief Secretary's official Camp Office and a secure conference room for usually closed door meetings with bureaucratic and political aids, officers and politicians. The completion of the Chief Secretary's House was in 1846, shortly after the British annexation of Sindh in 1843. This makes it one of the oldest surviving colonial-era structures in Karachi. Over the decades as the administrative needs of the British Raj and later the Government of Pakistan grew, the building underwent several expansions and renovations while retaining its core historical footprint.
Architectural Style and Layout Colonial Architecture: The building is a classic specimen of British colonial architecture in the subcontinent. It reflects the grand, stately style utilized by the British for high-ranking administrative officers.
Materials: Like many of Karachi's prominent heritage buildings from that era, it is constructed using locally sourced yellow Gizri sandstone and features high ceilings and wide verandas designed to combat the local heat.
Dual Functionality: Beyond being a private residence, the Chief Secretary House traditionally serves a vital functional role as a camp office. It is used to host high-level administrative meetings, official dinners, and gatherings of top-tier civil servants, politicians and diplomats.
Before being the Chief Secretary's residence, the house was resided by Sir Shahnawaz Bhutto while he was serving as Chief Advisor to the Governor during the cruisial period of Sindh's separation from the Bombay Presidency. The house was later resided by his son, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, the fourth President and ninth Prime Minister of Pakistan. Hardley House was also the official residence of Chief Ministers of Sindh till 1955. Afterwards in 1970, the house became the official home to Chief Secretaries. The Chief Secretary House is located in Club Road, Civil Lines.
List of Chief Secretaries The following table lists down the names of chief secretaries that have remained in office since June 2000. No. Names of Chief Secretaries Entered office Left office 1 Javed Ashraf Hussain June 2000 July 2002 2 KB Rind July 2002 June 2003 3 Mutawakkil Kazi June 2003 July 2004 4 Aslam Sanjrani July 2004 May 2005 5 Fazal-ur-Rehman May 2005 March 2007 6 Shakeel Durrani March 2007 July 2007 7 Ejaz Qureshi July 2007 November 2007 8 Fazal-ur-Rehman November 2007 August 2010 9 Muhammad Ijaz Chaudhry April 2013 November 2013 10 Sajjad Saleem Hotiana November 2013 March 2015 11 Muhammad Siddique Memon March 2015 November 2016 12 Rizwan Memon November 2016 June 2018 13 Azam Suleman Khan June 2018 September 2018 14 Mumtaz Ali Shah September 2018March 202215 Sohail Rajput April 2022 August 202316 Fakhre Alam Irfan August 2023 March 202417 Syed Asif Hyder Shah March 2024 Incumbent
See also Federal Secretary Pakistan Administrative Service Cabinet Secretary of Pakistan Establishment Secretary of Pakistan Chief Secretary Punjab Chief Secretary (Pakistan)
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