Over million govt posts vacant for many years

PM Imran Khan orders recruitment of 129,000 employees

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan has ordered the recruitment of 129,000 candidates to fill vacant government posts.

The direction came after the premier took notice of over one million government posts lying vacant for many years because of the negligence of ministries and divisions.

The prime minister received a report from the Performance Delivery Unit on the efficiency of the ministries and divisions.

As per the report, 120,000 jobs are vacant in 35 ministries and 218 divisions.
A total of 13,421 jobs for posts from grade-16 to -22 and 51,000 from grade-1 to grade-7 remain to be filled are in various divisions.

There 41,000 posts from grade-8 to grade-15 that are also lying vacant. In addition, 96 posts from grade-21 to grade-22 are vacant for many years.
There are 4,000 vacant posts that need to be filled through the Federal Public Service Commission, including 23 from grade-20 to grade-22.
The Performance Delivery Unit also issued red letters to the ministries telling them to provide details of the posts.

PM Performance Delivery Unit in-charge Adil Saeed Safi told The Express Tribune that it was a daunting task to obtain details from ministries and divisions and it took about a year during which red letters had to be issued.

He said that the negligence of the ministries and divisions had not only kept 29,000 people deprived of government jobs but also affected service delivery. “The prime minister has tasked the Performance Delivery Unit with identifying the flaws in the system and preparing policy recommendations,” he added.

Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Information and Broadcasting Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan recently told the media that the federal cabinet had issued directives to the ministries and divisions to complete the recruitment process on 129,301 vacant posts within four months and decide disciplinary matters related to civil servants on a fast-track basis.

She said there are 106,343 cases of employees related to violation of discipline and promotions pending in the ministries and divisions for the last 30 years.

“The prime minister has directed the ministries and divisions to dispose of all the pending cases [of civil servants] as per rules and regulations within three months.

However, she clarified that no public sector employee would be sacked as the government was committed to providing employment to the jobless.