'Political' appointments: Adhoc hiring under way in taxation dept

Department bypasses public service commission to carry out its own recruitment.

KARACHI: Fourteen vacancies in the Sindh excise and taxation department have been created on adhoc basis.

Around 100 candidates who cleared the written test for the position of Excise Taxation Officers (ETOs) gave their interviews on Sunday. The successful candidates will be appointed on a six-month term on the approval of Qaim Ali Shah.

Suitable candidates are to be recruited through the Sindh Public Service Commission (SPSC) examinations. Three years ago, the Sindh excise and taxation department requested the SPSC to conduct the written and interview tests as the department direly needed the services of ETOs.

"My department requested the SPSC to go through the process but nothing has been done so far," Sindh Excise and Taxation Minister Mukesh Kumar Chawla said. "The workload on junior officers is too much and we need competent officials. The process is legal because the chief minister has the authority [to appoint officers]."

He said several officials in his department had retired. "More than 850 officers have been promoted and we need ETOs to run the affairs smoothly," he elaborated.

All positions are being filled on political basis, complained a candidate, on the condition of anonymity. "I qualified the written tests held on January 2. The test was quite difficult but I am not sure if the department will appoint the deserving candidates on merit," he said, claiming that some relatives of politicians and high-ranked officials also gave the interviews.

Anybody can appear for the tests as the positions are open merit, said Chawla denying all such rumours.

This is not the first time that the officers are being inducted on adhoc basis because even the 28 officers currently working in the department were appointed during the tenure of former chief minister of Sindh, Jam Sadiq Ali.