ISLAMABAD: Taking notice of an advertisement that said only a domicile holder of Punjab can apply for the post of Polyclinic executive director (ED), the Senate Standing Committee on Cabinet Secretariat on Tuesday directed the Federal Public Service Commission (FPSC) to stop the process of the appointment.

During a meeting of the committee, Senator Mir Mohammad Yousuf Badini said restricting the post to Punjab was unfair with the candidates from other provinces. If this trend is allowed, how people of other provinces will be able to apply for jobs in the federal capital, he observed.

“Because of such decisions, the sense of deprivation is increasing among the people of small provinces,” he said.

Senator Shahi Syed said people of other provinces would be left with no other option but to come to Punjab and obtain its domicile to become eligible for the jobs.

Committee takes notice of advertisement that sought applications only from Punjab domicile holders

Senator Khushbakht Shujaat also expressed concerns over the matter and said such steps worked as slow poisoning for countries.

Senator Kalsoom Perveen said the post should be filled on an open merit.

The chairman of the committee, Mohammad Talha Mahmood, said if it was mentioned in the rules that only a person from Punjab can be appointed as the ED of Polyclinic, the rules should be amended. The post should be filled through merit, he said.

An official of the hospital informed the committee that though seven candidates had applied for the posts, one of them was already in jail and being probed by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) for alleged corruption.

The representative of the FPSC on the occasion confirmed that there were seven candidates but he expressed ignorance about one of them being in jail on corruption charges.

The committee directed the FPSC to stop the test scheduled to be held on November 24 for the post.

Pims cardiac centre employees

Taking up the issue of nonpayment of salaries to the employees of the Pims cardiac centre for over a year, the committee suggested that the services of the 30 employees be regularised.

The PC-I of the cardiac centre was approved in 2004 but the construction work faced an inordinate delay. On April 9 last year, the building of the cardiac centre was inaugurated by the then minister for Capital Administration and Development Division (CADD), Barrister Usman Ibrahim.

Since then, however, the employees who were appointed under the PC-I have not been paid salaries. The management of Pims had requested them at that time to continue working with a promise that their services would be regularised soon.

Published in Dawn, November 23rd, 2016