Three member federal commission formed to appoint heads of public sector organisations

Commission to appoint people for 58 vacant slots in public sector organisation.

ISLAMABAD: Following the Supreme Court’s order, the government on Tuesday announced that it had constituted a three member federal commission that will select heads of 58 public sector organisations, almost four months after an order was issued.

A government release on Tuesday read that following up on the Supreme Court’s order of July 22, 2013, the government had formed a commission to ensure that appointments of heads of statutory, semi autonomous bodies and regulatory authorities, organisations established by or under the control of the Federal Government, are made on merit and in a transparent manner. The commission seeks to strike a balance between the urgency to make the selections and the exacted thoroughness of the selection process to ensue both quality of the selected candidates as well as transparency of the process.

The commission comprises of three members and will be chaired by the federal tax ombudsman Abdur Rauf Chaudhry. Other members of the commission include Higher Education Commission chief Shams Kassim Lakha, and Dr Ijaz Nabi. The commission will be provided secretariat help by the Establishment Division.

The commission will appoint through a multilayered appointing process where ministry or division responsible for the organisation with the vacant post advertises the post to be filled and receives the applications.

These applications will then be forwarded to the government’s designated human resource consultant firm AF Ferguson & Co. for short listing. The short listing process involves assessment tests and a series of interviews conducted by the consultant. The consultant will assess the candidates for each advertised position within 15 days.

The short listed candidates will then be interviewed by the commission and ranked on merit. After a final reference check, the ranked candidates will be included in the commisison’s summary for the Prime Minister for final approval.

Hit the ground running

The new commission already has its work cut out for it, with tasks to fill 58 vacant slots. Of these, 33 posts have already been advertised by the concerned ministries and divisions and the commission has met three times to interview short listed candidates.

The commission selected members of Pakistan Telecommunication Authority in its first meeting. A new chairman for Pakistan International Airlines Corporation was selected in the second meeting.

In its third meeting on November 7, 2013, it interviewed short listed candidates for the post of National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (NEPRA) chairman.

The summary of commission’s final recommendation for the position will be sent to the Prime Minister shortly after the final reference check.