Vacancies: 750 jobs to be filled though FPSC in Gilgit-Baltistan

CM says process will ensure transparency as assembly approves amendment

GILGIT: Gilgit-Baltistan (G-B) Chief Minister Hafeezur Rahman said on Tuesday over 700 vacant posts of service grade-17 and above will be filled through the Federal Public Service Commission (FPSC).

“This will ensure transparency as promised,” the chief minister told The Express Tribune in Gilgit. “If the government had ill intentions, we would have formed an induction committee, but we didn’t.”

He said 750 positions of grade-17 and 18 would be advertised by the FPSC within coming months and then tests will be held accordingly.

Rahman’s comments came a day after the G-B Legislative Assembly approved an amendment in the region’s public service commission act. The amendment allows the FPSC to conduct tests for the vacant posts. It was passed unanimously on Monday and tabled by Parliamentary Secretary on Law Advocate Aurangzeb Khan.

Commenting on the amended act, Aurangzeb Khan said FPSC refused to conduct tests and interviews for G-B candidates over the years on the grounds that the region has its own such body. He said several candidates passed their upper age limit due to this issue. Aurangzeb said the G-B Public Service Commission Act passed by the assembly in 2010, was not in practice and therefore tests or interviews were not conducted for the vacant posts. “FPSC would do the hiring till G-B’s public service commission was fully operational.”

In addition, the G-B Legislative Assembly also adopted a resolution seeking amendments to schedule 5 of the G-B Governance Order 2009 to separate the region’s quota from Fata in federal government jobs.

Aurangzeb Khan, while presenting the resolution, said jobs in the federal government were jointly advertised for Fata and G-B which goes against the interest of the latter’s candidates. The house unanimously passed the resolution.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 2^nd, 2016.