This seat’s not taken: Thousands of federal govt jobs remain unfilled

Officials say posts will be advertised after fund allocations by finance division

ISLAMABAD:

Tens of thousands of positions remain vacant in the federal government, The Express Tribune has learned, as around 57,866 posts have yet to be filled in ministries, autonomous and semi-autonomous bodies, divisions and multiple authorities.

Senior officials in the establishment division – the main body dealing with posts under the federal government’s jurisdiction – said that it took 15 months to identify these vacant positions.



Overall, there are 497,846 positions within the federal government, ranging from BPS 1 to BPA 22. The government imposed a ban on recruitments on June 20 last year and this was listed by the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) government a month ago. All government departments were directed by then-deputy secretary Zulfiqar Ali Shah to provide details of vacant posts to the management services wing of the Establishment Division. Officials said all departments will advertise these posts after the Finance Division allocates funds for these vacant posts.

According to figures obtained from federal bodies, more than 4,000 posts reserved for Balochistan in 52 departments are currently lying vacant. Nearly 15,000 posts for Punjab, 11,123 for Sindh, and over 10,000 for Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa are also vacant.

Additionally, 1,911 positions for the National Counter Terrorism Authority, 1,645 for Intelligence Bureau, 3,210 for Azad Jammu and Kashmir, 2,200 for the Federal Investigation Authority and 864 posts in the Ministry of National Food and Security have yet to be filled.



Senior officers in the Federal Public Service Commission suggested that BPS 7 to BPS 15 recruitments should be completed through the National Testing Service. Other recruitments will be carried out through the FPSC after the heads of all public sector organisations are inducted, the officers said.

“The senior-most positions should not go vacant – this is what one calls ‘good governance’,” retired federal secretary Tasneem Noorani said. “The existing system is delivering but bureaucracy should not work under political influence.”

The present state of affairs, according to retired joint secretary Farooq Kazi, does not bode well for good governance. “Tens of thousands of vacant posts create trouble in more than two dozen federal departments.”

Dr Masood Akhter, a spokesperson for the Establishment Division, did not comment on the vacant posts, saying he was dealing only with ED affairs at the moment where a few posts are vacant.

By the numbers: Vacancies according to grade

BPS 22: There are 120 sanctioned posts but only 98 are currently occupied. Thus, 22 positions of BPS 22 have yet to be filled.

BPS 21: In this grade there are around 500 sanctioned posts but 404 are occupied and 96 are vacant.

BPS 20: Of 1,235 posts, 212 have yet to be filled

BPS 19: There are 3,450 posts and 793 are vacant

BPS 18: Of 8,378 positions, 803 are vacant.

BPS-17: Of 15,249 posts, 3,850 are not occupied

BPS 16: 9,472 vacant posts

BPS 15: 73 vacancies

BPS 14: 1,862 vacancies

BPS 12 to BPS 1: 1,336 Grade 12 vacancies, 6461 Grade 11 vacancies, 1094 Grade 9 vacancies, 148 Grade 8 vacancies, 249 Grade 7 vacancies, 739 Grade 6 vacancies, 368 Grade 5 vacancies, 930 Grade 4 vacancies, 584 Grade 2 vacancies and 10,612 Grade 1 vacancies.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 26^th, 2014.