No regulation: NTS under fire over hiring process

Senate panel questions the body’s legal status

ISLAMABAD: A parliamentary panel on communication questioned the legal status of the National Testing Services and Balochistan Testing Services and expressed concern over the body charging a hefty fee from unemployed youth.

“In what capacity has the Establishment Division asked NTS to carry out the hiring process on behalf of all the federal government offices and charge a fee from people who are already unemployed,” asked the head of the Senate standing committee, Senator Muhammad Daud Khan Achakzai.

Achakzai said the government organisations just advertise jobs and leave the rest of the hiring process to NTS.

“When the applicants inquire about their status then they are told that they have failed to qualify for the position,” he said.

Senator Kamil Ali Agha said NTS charges over Rs1,000 from all applicants and then does not even call them for an interview. He added that NTS had recently accepted 22,000 applications against just four vacant posts.

“They have charged Rs1,100 from each applicant and did not invite them for testing or interview,” he stated.

“NTS is a fraud. No one knows how it was formulated, when it was notified and who is regulating it,” Senetor Kulsom Parveen said.

CPEC

Earlier, Achakzai also directed to impose a ban on including already existing projects to the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor.

“The present government should stop misleading the people by making old projects part of CPEC,” he said.

Achakzai pointed out that, despite Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s directives, the western route of CPEC had not been given priority. He claimed that till date no work has been started on the western route.

“Some of the chief secretaries of the provinces avoid attending the committee meeting because they want to hide facts behind the delay in starting the work on the western route,” he said.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 24^th, 2016.