Members of the federal cabinet are divided over the discontinuation of jobs quota for the urban areas of Sindh and its allocation to south Punjab, sources have told The Express Tribune.
They said that in a cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Imran Khan on August 25, Planning Minister Asad Umar drew attention of the participants towards the outcry in Karachi after a recent notification which extended the provincial and regional quotas of civil posts under the federal government.
It was explained that the quota prescribed under Article 27(1) of the Constitution of Pakistan was time-bound. Even after completion of 40 years in 2013, it had been continuing without any legal cover.
In accordance with a judgement of the Supreme Court that called for extending the quota through rules and not via memorandum, the rules were amended in consultation with the attorney general for Pakistan. While giving the requisite legal cover, the distribution of quota was kept undisturbed.
The quota system draws its strength and basis from Article 27(1) of the Constitution, which allocates quotas in government jobs to the provinces, Gilgit-Baltistan, Azad Jammu and Kashmir and the erstwhile Federally Administered Tribal Areas.
Similar quotas are also prescribed for minorities, women and other marginalised segments of the society. The quota for 10 years, which was fixed in 1973, had been extended for another 10 years in 1983. It was again extended in 1993 for 20 years, which expired on August 13, 2013.
A cabinet member was of the view that the urban and rural divide in Sindh’s quota needed to be discontinued as educational facilities in rural areas of the province had been developed considerably and had dwarfed the disparity. Furthermore, the urban quota was being abused through fake domiciles.
A few cabinet members were of the view that the rural-urban distinction needed to be replicated in other provinces, especially in Punjab, where the southern region was not at par with the northern region.
Different quarters from south Punjab have been raising voice for allocating the job quota.
An independent senator from south Punjab, Mohsin Leghari, had moved a bill in the Punjab Assembly in January 2014, demanding that the existing 50% quota for federal service jobs in Punjab should be divided further and allocated with a ratio of 17.5% for south Punjab and 32.5% for the rest of the province, including the provincial capital.
A majority of the members, however, argued that it was a sensitive issue and should not be opened at this point in time, more so because the underdeveloped and backward areas, including Balochistan and tribal areas could not be brought at par with the developed regions.
Pointing to the recent rains in Sindh, the minister for inter-provincial coordination suggested that besides Karachi, the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) should also be given the responsibility of managing the flood situation in interior Sindh.
It was pointed out that the disaster management authority in Sindh lacked the capacity and was incapable of making relief and rescue efforts in the affected areas.
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