Recruitment rules: Police to recruit CM’s private guards

Summary sent to Home Department seeking relaxation in recruitment rules.

LAHORE:

The inspector general of Punjab Police is seeking to recruit as constables 14 security personnel deployed with the chief minister in a private capacity, The Express Tribune has learnt.

On the directions of the Chief Minister’s Secretariat, the IG has sent a summary to the Home Department asking for recruitment rules on age and qualifications criteria be relaxed to allow the induction of the 14 men, an official at the IG’s office said on the condition of anonymity.

The summary dated July 10 states that the constables would be deployed with the chief minister. The inductions would also require a relaxation of the Contract Policy 2004.



In its comments on the summary, the Home Department stated that recruitment rules should be observed. The proper recruitment method would be to advertise the posts in the press to invite applications from eligible candidates. The advertisement would detail recruitment criteria like age, academic qualifications and physical measurements. The age limit for the recruitment of constable is 18 to 25. They are required to be matriculates, at least 5 feet and 7 inches tall, and have a chest measuring 33 inches at rest and 34.5 inches when breathing in, the Home Department observed.

A superintendent of police said that the recruitment of constables at the district level was done through a competitive examination held by the Selection Board. Besides their performance in the written examination, their physical measurement and interview performance was assessed before recruitment, he said.

A senior official in the CM’s Secretariat said that the 14 men were already doing security duties with the chief minister.

He said that they were highly trained in security matters. Some of them were retired armed forces personnel, he added. More than 50 Elite Force personnel also doing security duty with the chief minister, he said.

IG Khan Baig, via spokeswoman Nabeela Gazanfar, confirmed that a summary had been sent to the chief minister via the Home Department seeking a relaxation in the rules to induct the 14 men as constables in Lahore police.

Approval was yet awaited, he said. “It is the government’s prerogative to induct men for special duties on a need basis for a specific purpose,” Baig said.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 30^th, 2013.