Refuting claims: SPSC's role will be strengthened, says CM

Qaim Ali Shah says Sindh govt won't interfere in commission's affairs

KARACHI: Rather than the role of the Sindh Public Service Commission (SPSC) being reduced, it will be strengthened further, said Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah on Friday.

"It is an autonomous body and we never interfere in its affairs," he claimed in response to media reports that the government intends to diminish the SPSC's powers and role. "All recruitments from grade B-17 and above are made through the SPSC."

He further said that government departments were only authorised to recruit candidates for grade B-1 to B-16 after following the given procedure by inviting applications through newspapers, forming selection committees and then selecting candidates in a transparent manner on merit.

Referring to a press conference by a former Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) minister, Shah said that there had been a ban on new recruitments when the Pakistan Peoples Party government came to power.

"The government has now lifted the ban and jobs will be given on merit," he added. "The MQM is only making unnecessary complaints now that it has quit the coalition," he claimed. "They never raised these issues before."

Published in The Express Tribune, November 29^th, 2014.