Appointments for excise service centres approved

Buzdar reduces number of vacancies to 168

LAHORE: In reference to the new recruitment case that was pending for the past one and a half years, Punjab Chief Minister Sardar Usman Buzdar has approved the appointment on 168 vacancies on Sunday.

He also established criteria for the Excise Department’s Service Centre which will provide excise-related services to people in six major cities including the provincial capital.

Out of nearly 8,000 candidates who took the first written test, 3,000 candidates successfully cleared the examination. The criteria included selecting candidates for interviews who achieved 40% marks in the second written test in which 1,050 candidates appeared.

The skill test was conducted through the Punjab Information Technology Board (PITB) while a summary has also been sent to Services Department to regulate young people who will be appointed on a contract in the future.

The Express Tribune learnt that last year, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz government decided to establish Excise Service Centres in Lahore, Rawalpindi, Gujranwala, Faisalabad, Multan, and Bahawalpur. Rented buildings were renovated in four places in the provincial capital while one place was allocated for the other cities.

Despite current excise staff, young and educated men and women were to be appointed for service centres.

The Excise Department awarded a contract to a private testing company for recruitment which conducted the written test of more than 8,000 candidates.

However, there were serious misconducts by the testing company which created problems in the written test and the issue was delayed for several weeks.

After this, the testing company issued a list of successful candidates to the Excise Department but in the meantime, new recruitments were banned after the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf government came into power.

Three months ago, the Excise Department sent a summary to the CM to complete the recruitment process.

The CM reduced the number of vacancies to 168 and ordered the selection of candidates who achieved at least 40% marks in the second written test for the skill test and interview. The PITB conducted the skill tests which included a speed typing task of the 1,050 shortlisted candidates.

The candidates who will clear the skill test will be called for interviews before a committee consisting of representatives of the Excise Department, Finance Department, PITB, Regulation Department, R&D Department and Services Department.

In January, Buzdar had announced lifting a ban on recruitments in the Punjab Forensic Science Agency (PFSA).

He had directed the authorities to send a summary in this regard. He also directed the ACS (Home) to forward a separate case to increase the allowances of scientists and their staff.

The CM had made this announcement during a visit to the head office of the PFSA. He said special attention should be paid to the training of the prosecution department and police staff to bring necessary improvements in the criminal justice system.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 15^th, 2019.