Fresh appointments in excise dept stayed by SHC

A total of 14 vacancies at the department had been filled on an ad-hoc basis.

KARACHI: A couple of days after the provincial excise and taxation department conducted interviews for 14 vacant BPS-17 positions that were created on an ad-hoc basis, the Sindh High Court issued stay orders against fresh appointments.

Around 100 candidates who cleared the written test for the position of Excise and Taxation Officers (ETOs) had given their interviews on Sunday. The successful candidates were going to be appointed on a six-month term, pending approval by the chief minister.

The Sindh Public Service Commission (SPSC) is responsible for sifting through hundreds of applications and finalising a dozen or so candidates. However, Sindh Excise and Taxation Minister Mukesh Kumar Chawla claimed that his department had requested the SPSC to conduct written tests and interviews for job applicants three years ago, when the department was facing a shortage of ETOs.

“My department requested the SPSC to go through the process, but nothing was done,” Chawla had claimed earlier. “The workload on junior officers was too much, and we needed competent officials. The process [of fresh appointments] is legal because the chief minister has the authority [to appoint officers].”

Disagreeing with the argument, the SHC bench, headed by Justice Faisal Arab, issued notices to the secretary of the excise department among others, to respond by February 27.



The court was hearing a petition filed by Ghulam Nabi Mehar, a grade 17 officer at the excise and taxation department, who complained that he was kept in the “surplus pool” but  was not considered during the latest round of appointments.

Mehar complained that while 19 officers from the same pool had been appointed to these posts on an ad-hoc basis, he was not considered.

Appointments made on political basis

A candidate who applied for the vacant ETO position claimed that all appointments had been made on a political basis. Anybody can appear for the written test, as “the positions are awarded on open merit,” claimed the taxation minister, Chawla, before denying rumours on the appointments.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 24^th%3