THIS is with reference to the under-process recruitment by NAB advertised in newspapers in December 2011. The whole procedure has so far taken 11 months and has not been finalised yet.

In October, the candidates were called for interviews to be held at Karachi on 19th and 20th October followed by Quetta, Peshawar, Lahore and Islamabad.

The list of candidates declared successful in the psychological test was called for an interview on Oct 19 at 8.30am. However, interviews were conducted from 1.00pm. When candidates called NAB’s Islamabad office for inquiring about their result, the official concerned behaved rudely with them.

NTS was asked to conduct the psychological test of candidates which had never conducted such in its history. A single psychological test by NTS was held twice: on Aug 4 and Aug 11. Such practice is unheard of in any organisation. The Islamabad inquiry number 051-9258478-9 also remained unattended and the Karachi office refused to provide any relevant information to the aspirants.

Candidates with high marks in the written test were pushed out of competition on the pretext of poor performance in the psychological test though the test mentioned that there was no right or wrong answer to the questions. A certain proportion of candidates with fewer marks but having relevant connections were selected for the interview.

A ratio of 1.3-1.4 candidates per post was called for an interview, thus providing credence to dubious manoeuvres during the selection process. A standard of three candidates per seat is followed by all organisations. It would have been better to award offer letters to candidates as the interviews just seemed to be a formality.

The psychological test results displayed on NAB’s website in excel file had hidden rows in it, which if opened displayed other candidates’ names as well, which proved their carelessness.

Secrecy till the last moment was maintained by the authorities concerned so as not to disclose any information to the candidates. But all those with the right connections were shown the merit lists and were provided with the desired information and data. It took NAB two months to realise that the list of candidates who had not submitted their documents should be pasted on its website. They continued to call each candidate after the psychological test, thus wasting precious time and acting immaturely.

S. ABBASI Hyderabad