LAHORE: The Lahore High Court (LHC) has advertised over 300 BPS-3 to BPS-16 posts, but relaxed the recruitment criteria for 17 BPS-16 posts – against which there would be direct hiring through interviews.

Applicants for classes I and II (below BPS-16) posts will be required to sit written tests – to be conducted by the Punjab Public Service Commission (PPSC). The LHC will determine the candidates’ status in the test and then conduct interviews.

However, for BPS-16 posts the court has decided to carry out recruitment directly through interview. The anomaly in recruitment criteria for these posts has raised many eyebrows, as critics claim that many of the candidates for these slots are kith and kin of senior officers serving in the court establishment.

Critics claim many candidates are kin to senior officers of court establishment

After initial scrutiny of the applicants for the BPS-16 posts -- assistant protocol officers and caretakers – 663 and 286 candidates, respectively, have been declared eligible for interviews by recruitment committees at the principal seat of Lahore and three regional benches of Rawalpindi, Multan and Bahawalpur. Minimum qualification for both slots has been set as graduation with a minimum second division result.

The vacancies for which the PPSC has been asked to conduct written tests included seven senior auditors (BPS-14), a cashier (BPS-14), 35 data entry operators (BPS-13), 12 junior auditors (BPS-11) and 125 junior clerks (BPS-11). As many as 40,438 eligible candidates would sit the commission’s test.

The PPSC may only be required to conduct the test as per requirements of the relevant posts without marking or grading the tests or declaring candidates pass or fail, leaving it to the high court to decide ceiling of marks to determine eligibility for an interview, according to an official document.

An official of the LHC, who wished not to be named, said the rules and orders of the court establishment required appointment of ministerial and clerical staff through the PPSC. Interestingly, he said, the LHC sent a requisition to the PPSC to conduct the examination and interviews for BPS-16 posts of “assistant” and “assistant IT”. The commission is likely to advertise these posts in two weeks.

The official further said that the committees formed to interview candidates for the BPS-16 posts included officers facing inquiries or who were beneficiaries of “Rule 26” of the high court rules. This rule empowered a chief justice to appoint or promote any person, who has neither passed nor qualified departmental or an examination held by the PPSC, if the person appeared to be just and equitable.

A petition is also pending adjudication in the LHC against officers who have been granted promotions or other benefits under this rule. A 2016 judgement by the Supreme Court against appointments at Islamabad High Court discouraged the use of Rule 26.

When contacted, LHC Registrar Bahadur Ali Khan told Dawn that he could not comment on the disparity in the appointment criteria. He said senior puisne judge of the LHC was overseeing the ongoing appointment process.

“I am not even fully conversant with the rules,” he said when asked about his own views on the matter being spokesperson of the high court.

Published in Dawn, August 6th, 2018