‘Political promotions’ delay tax officers’ posting

Having passed SPSC exam and being finalised last October, candidates still await joining orders

KARACHI:

While excise and taxation officers (ETOs) who had passed the combined competitive exam in 2018 are yet to receive joining orders, even after a lapse of almost a year and a half, the government is, reportedly, giving preference to approving the promotions of non-commissioned officers.

Meanwhile, candidates who passed the examination conducted by the Sindh Public Service Commission (SPSC) continue to run from pillar to post to get their joining orders.

The SPSC had conducted examinations for different posts, including those of assistant commissioners, section officers (SOs), assistant registrars for cooperative societies and district food controllers, besides ETOs, almost two years ago.

"We passed the written test in December 2018 and interviews were conducted till October last year," one of the successful candidates told The Express Tribune on condition of anonymity. "Around 5,000 candidates were shortlisted to appear for the examination after a screening test and among them 500 passed the test. Following this, 237 were deployed in different departments."

He added that while most of them, including assistant commissioners, food controllers and SOs, have joined their offices, the 15 selected ETOs were still awaiting joining orders.

Another successful candidate, who also requested anonymity, said it had been nine months since the SPSC had sent the list of those who were to be appointed to the excise and taxation department. "We have completed all the formalities, got our degrees verified, underwent medical tests," he said.

According to sources in the SPSC, who asked not to be named, the commission had recommended that relevant departments appoint the officers without any delay after final interviews.

"We announced the results for ETOs' posts on October 25, 2019, and asked the excise and taxation secretary to appoint them directly soon after," said a senior SPSC official, adding that the department should have finalised the appointments by the end of 2019.

"We completed our job and finalised the candidates, but their appointments are to be made by the excise and taxation department," he explained.

Sources privy to the development told The Express Tribune that reason behind the delay in the appointments was the department's inclination towards promoting other, non-commissioned officers first - the majority of whom were appointed as clerks, assistants, office superintendents and inspectors on political grounds and have been working there for years.

According to the source, as soon as the SPSC announced the results in October, a notification was issued to promote superintendents and taxation officers, who are grade-16 officers, to the ETO posts.

As per the notification, the promotions were temporary and to be reversed after the department received the list of commissioned officers to be appointed as ETOs, a department official said, sharing the relevant document.

However, he claimed, the promotions now were being made permanent. "Our department has written to the director general and all regional directors, seeking confidential reports on non-commissioned employees whose promotions are to be made permanent."

A candidate who passed the SPSC examination expressed dismay in response to these reports. "If these non-commissioned officers are promoted, our seniority would be affected," he said. "Many of them cannot even write or read [properly, and] and are only being promoted on political grounds."

On the other hand, excise and taxation secretary Haleem Shaikh said that the department had completed all official requirements and would soon organise a ceremony where joining orders of the newly qualified ETOs would be issued.

He also denied reports of non-commissioned officers being given preference for promotion. "We have two cadres of employees in our department. Both cadres, the non-commissioned and commissioned officers, will get their own line of promotion, purely on merit," he said.

Despite multiple attempts, Sindh Excise and Taxation Minister Mukesh Chawla remained unavailable for comment.

 

Published in The Express Tribune, July 13^th, 2020.