ISLAMABAD: Back in 2008, a summary was presented to the prime minister to relax the maximum age limit for the Central Superior Services (CSS) examination but the honourable prime minister turned it down saying that “we want young blood in this service”.
Before General (retd) Pervez Musharraf came into power, the maximum age limit to appear for the CSS examination was 30 years and for those government employees who had been in service for at least two years, it was 35. The Musharraf regime changed the maximum age limit to sit for the CSS examination to 28.
Although an age relaxation of five years is given for non-cadre job like those in the Intelligence Bureau, Federal Investigation Agency, Inter-Services Intelligence and the Ministry of Defence among others, it is not given for CSS candidates.
I am surprised why this relaxation is given to candidates applying to jobs in these departments but not to those sitting for the CSS examination. Either the government has doubts about its recruitment process ‘believing that it would enable the hiring of incompetent people’, or those at the helm of affairs have a vested interest in keeping the maximum age limit for appearing in the CSS examinations low.
I request the honourable Chief Justice of Pakistan to please look into this matter.
Muhammad Atif
Published in The Express Tribune, March 26th, 2012.
