On this page 7 sections
Every government employee in Pakistan has a service book. It is the official record of your whole service career, from your first appointment to your retirement. If it is incomplete or wrong, your pension can be delayed.
This guide explains what a service book is, what it records, who keeps it, and how to make sure yours is correct. It covers federal government employees, under the General Financial Rules and the Fundamental and Supplementary Rules.
Service Book at a Glance#
| Fact | Rule |
|---|---|
| What it is | The complete and authentic record of your service career |
| Opened | On your first entry into Government service |
| Kept by | The Head of the Office, in duplicate |
| Shown to you | Every year, for your signature |
| Verified | Every year, and at 25 years of service or 5 years before retirement |
What Is Recorded in a Service Book in Pakistan?#
A service book records every step in a government servant’s official life. It is an official document maintained by the Head of Office under Article 816 of the Civil Service Regulations, and every entry in it must be attested.
The book is divided into five parts. Part I records your identification: name, date of birth, domicile, and fingerprints. Part II records your particulars: qualifications, marital status, and home town. Part III records your service: appointments, promotions, transfers, increments, and pay fixation. Part IV records your leave. Part V records your conduct.
At your first appointment, these entries are made and attested. Medical fitness, verification of character and antecedents, declaration of marital status, oath of allegiance or affirmation, declaration of home town, verification of date of birth, and verification of your educational, professional and technical qualifications.
Later entries are added as your career goes on. Your GP Fund nomination, details of your family members, nomination for death and retirement gratuity, and your CGEGIS nomination, which is pasted in the book and attested. Your GPF account number is stamped on the right-hand top of page 1 as soon as you are admitted to the GP Fund.
Every event must be recorded. A change of pay scale, an increment, a transfer, any leave other than casual leave, a suspension, a punishment, a commendation, and your discharge, dismissal, resignation or retirement. Every period of suspension and every interruption of service must be noted with full details of its duration. If you are reduced in rank, the reason must be briefly recorded.
Who Keeps the Service Book?#
The Head of the Office keeps it, in duplicate. The service book is maintained in duplicate and kept in the custody of the Head of the Office in which you are serving. When you are transferred, the book is transferred with you from office to office.
You do not keep a copy. Both copies stay with the Head of the Office. Your right is to examine the book: the Head of the Office must give you every facility to examine the entries and satisfy yourself that they are correct, and you sign in the column provided as token of your scrutiny and acceptance.
It is the Head of the Office’s duty to keep it current. All entries must be promptly made and duly attested by the authorized Attesting Officer. Entries on a new appointment must be made within one month, and subsequent entries within 15 days of the occasion.
A service book is not opened for everyone. It is not required for those recruited for purely temporary or officiating vacancies not likely to last more than one year and not eligible for permanent appointment.
The Red-Line Rule: Never Erase an Entry#
No erasure or overwriting of an entry once made is allowed. If an entry is wrong, it is scored with a red line and the correct entry is made underneath it, duly attested with a full signature and date. The Head of the Office is responsible for ensuring that no entry is crossed out, erased or overwritten.
Your bio-data entries are renewed every five years. All entries in Part I except fingerprints should be renewed and re-attested at least after every five years, and the signatures of the employee and the Attesting Officer should be dated.
Personal certificates of character must not be entered. Unless the Head of the Department so directs, a personal certificate of character is not entered in the service book.
Annual Verification and Your Pension#
The service book is taken up for verification soon after the close of the financial year. The authorized Attesting Officer, after satisfying himself of the correctness of the entries, signs the verification certificate in Part IV. The certificate reads: “Certified that the services up to… verified with pay bills and other records.”
On transfer, your service is verified for the whole period. The Head of the Office or the Attesting Officer under whom you were working records the certificate of verification in Part IV for the whole period during which you remained employed under him.
Your qualifying service is verified before retirement. Verification of services is completed on completion of 25 years of service, or five years before the date of retirement, and a certificate in the prescribed form is issued to you. The qualifying service indicated in that certificate is treated as final up to that date.
Proper maintenance of the service book is necessary to eliminate delay in the authorization and payment of pension. If entries are missing or wrong, the pension case cannot be settled. Our government pension guide explains how your pension is calculated from your qualifying service and your average emoluments.
Your leave record lives in the service book too. Part IV of the book records your leave, and your leave account is maintained from it. Our earned leave guide explains how you earn 48 days a year and how leave is encashed at retirement.
How to Keep Your Service Book Updated in Pakistan#
Check it every year. The book must be shown to you every year and your signature obtained. Before you sign, check that your services have been duly verified and certified. Do not sign a book you have not read.
Check these entries every year:
- Date of birth and domicile
- Current post and pay scale
- Increment for the year
- Leave record
- GP Fund nomination
If anything is missing, ask the Head of the Office to make the entry and attest it.
After every transfer, ask for the verification certificate. When you move to a new office, the old office must record the certificate of verification in Part IV for your whole period there. If it is not done, your service for that period is unverified.
Before retirement, check the qualifying-service certificate. It is issued on completion of 25 years of service or five years before retirement. The qualifying service in it is treated as final, so any error in it follows you into your pension case.
Keep your own copies of the underlying documents. Your appointment letter, promotion orders, transfer orders, and pay fixation orders. Our joining letter guide explains what to keep when you join: quote the office order number and date, state forenoon or afternoon, and keep a stamped copy. Those documents are the evidence if an entry is ever disputed.
The service book rules are in the General Financial Rules and the Fundamental and Supplementary Rules, and service verification is handled by the Accountant General Pakistan Revenues.
Frequently Asked Questions#
What is recorded in a service book?
Every step in a government servant’s official life. Part I records identification, Part II particulars, Part III service and pay, Part IV leave, and Part V conduct. At appointment it records medical fitness, character verification, marital status, oath, home town, date of birth and qualifications. Later it records promotions, transfers, increments, leave, suspensions, punishments, GP Fund and gratuity nominations.
Who keeps my service book?
The Head of the Office where you are serving, in duplicate. Both copies stay in the Head of the Office’s custody, and the book is transferred with you when you move to another office. You do not keep a copy; your right is to examine the book every year and sign it as token of your scrutiny and acceptance.
How often is a service book verified?
Every year, soon after the close of the financial year, when the Attesting Officer signs the verification certificate in Part IV. Your qualifying service is also verified on completion of 25 years of service or five years before retirement, and the certificate issued then is treated as final up to that date.
What happens if an entry in my service book is wrong?
It is never erased or overwritten. The wrong entry is scored with a red line and the correct entry is made underneath it, duly attested with a full signature and date. The Head of the Office is responsible for ensuring that no entry is crossed out, erased or overwritten.
Why does the service book matter for my pension?
Your pension is calculated from your qualifying service and your average emoluments, both of which are proved from the service book. Proper maintenance of the book is necessary to eliminate delay in the authorization and payment of pension. If entries are missing or wrong, the pension case cannot be settled.
