Provincial job quota: PSO not following system since 1996

Committee asks for list of employees hired on the basis of domiciles.

ISLAMABAD:

A Senate Special Committee was informed on Tuesday that the provincial quota of jobs was not being observed in Pakistan State Oil (PSO) because the company had no specific rules and regulations in this regard.

The Senate Special Committee met with Senator Nayyar Hussain Bukhari in the chair to discuss transparency in the recruitment process and job quota in the country’s largest oil marketing company PSO.

PSO officials informed the committee that the provincial job quota was not being observed since 1996 and the job criterion in PSO was solely merit-based.

The committee expressed its concern over the non-implementation of the government policy on jobs in PSO even though its managing director and 10 members of the Board of Management were appointed by the federal government. Senator Bukhari said that the non-implementation of the job quota would create the sense of deprivation in the smaller provinces. Federal Minister for Petroleum and Natural Resources Dr Asim Hussain told the committee that the PSO management, in consultation with the ministry, would make a comprehensive document of rules and regulations in four weeks and present it before the committee for its approval.

Senator Bukhari said that the law secretary, establishment secretary and corporate lawyers would be invited in the next meeting to seek their opinion on the matter. The committee also sought a list of PSO employees compiled on the basis of their domiciles.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 7^th, 2011.