Members say the testing system for govt jobs only suits candidates from urban areas. PHOTO: EXPRESS
During a meeting of the committee on Friday, senators from Balochistan and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) in particular opposed hiring through NTS.
“The NTS should be abolished for recruitment in the government departments,” said chairman of the committee Daud Khan Achakzai. Various standing committee chairmen have already written to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to review this procedure, he added.
ANP Senator Zahid Khan said that many questions have been raised about the veracity of NTS which should be abolished. Recruitment tests should not be allowed to become a source of income, he said.
Deputy director general of Pakistan Post suggested hiring candidates through department testing system instead of NTS. Candidates have to deposit multiple fees when they apply for more than one post in a single department which is an extra burden on the unemployed youth, he said.
Additional secretary ministry of communications Aurangzeb Haque said that in the presence of Federal Public Service Commission (FPSC) there should not be a parallel department for recruitment.
Senator Mohsin Laghari supported NTS. He said that it was a transparent system at par with the international testing mechanism which should be continued and improved to maintain merit in the government departments.
Director General Postal Services Khushal Khan briefed the committee on recruitments and regularisation of daily wagers and contractual employees since March 15, 2013. He said that the services of 1,062 employees have been regularised in the last two years.
The committee members raised objections over advertisement for vacant positions of postal service only in Dera Ismail Khan and Bannu which were the constituencies of JUI-F MNAs Maulana Fazlur Rehman and Akram Khan Durrani. The members expressed doubts that it was done under the influence of the state minister for postal service Abdul Ghafoor Haideri.
Senator Zahid Khan said that there was no logic to hire people from only two districts for jobs in post offices across the country. Senator Achackzai expressed his dismay over postal service action of bundling the employment opportunities offered under the Aghaz-e-Huqooq-e-Balochistan package with the regular provincial quota of Balochistan. He also expressed concern over the sacking of postal service employees, who have worked for two years.
He urged the motorways police to make recruitments in respective provinces on the basis of length of highways and motorways instead of population.
The senate body directed the motorways police to follow the army recruitment procedure for ensuring merit in induction process.
Published in The Express Tribune, February 21st, 2015.
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