KARACHI: The credibility of a private organisation tasked by the Sindh government to select candidates for recruitment in government departments through tests has been questioned by the opposition Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan, it emerged on Monday.

A senior leader of the party, Khawaja Izharul Hasan, first approached authorities around four months ago to seek answers about the role of the Sindh Testing Service (Pvt) Limited. When he was told nothing, he wrote a letter to Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah drawing his attention to the issue.

“Why are they [the govt] not providing details of an organisation which decides the future of jobs for the youths of Sindh, especially those living in urban Sindh,” he said in a tweet.

Sindh Testing Service has been working with provincial govt’s departments and attached organisations for past two years

In the letter, he stated that being a member of the Sindh Assembly it was his legal and constitutional right to inquire about the details of the Sindh government’s decision to appoint a third-party organisation for conducting candidates’ test for government jobs.

“In this regard, I have sent two letters dated February 13 and March 10 to the Sindh Testing Services on their Islamabad address. The copies of the letters were also sent to the Sindh chief secretary, but till to date I have not been provided any information from any forum while no details are available on the company’s official website,” he stated.

He demanded that the chief minister explain the role of the firm with regard to government jobs as it was a matter of great concern for the people of Sindh.

Talking to Dawn, he said he came to know about the Sindh Testing Service when he saw in February an advertisement pertaining to jobs in the Malir Development Authority. “No information is available on their [testing service] website as to who are these people, what’s their qualification, academic credentials and policies and who is their chairman, controller, etc,” he said.

Move aims at ‘bypassing SPSC, NTS’

He said that he suspected the organisation was hired to bypass the National Testing Service (NTS) in government recruitment process in connivance with some officials of the Sindh government.

He said it might be an attempt to counter his fake domicile and permanent residence certificate case in the Sindh High Court as it was beyond anyone’s comprehension why the Sindh government was ignoring the Sindh Public Service Commission (SPSC) and using a third-party private company for hiring people on grade-16 and 17 jobs.

According to the website of the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan, the Sindh Testing Service (Pvt) Limited was incorporated at SECP’s Karachi office on Jan 21, 2015 under Section 32 of the Companies Ordinance, 1984.

But it was actually established in June 2010 and its Facebook page says it was founded by CEO Dhanesh Kumar Malhi and affiliated with the Surhan Welfare Society Sindh — a non-governmental organisation which has been working on education, health and culture in Sindh since 1997.

According to its website, the firm is an independent, autonomous, and professional testing organisation that conducts Entrance Tests, Recruitment Test, and Examinations & Assessment Test in a free and fair manner and is a member of the International Association for Educational Assessment.

It says it conducts the pre-entry test under the supervision of an executive committee which consists of chairman, CEO, controller, members of the organisation and senior professors. Highly qualified and trained staff is engaged in the entire system.

But, the official website of the STS does not provide any such information or even the names of its chairman, controller, senior professors and other ‘qualified’ staff.

The company has been working with various departments and autonomous organisations of the Sindh government since 2018 and, according to its website, it has so far worked with the Malir Development Authority, Sindh energy department, National Institute of Child Health, Sindh health department, Sindh Revenue Board, etc.

Published in Dawn, June 9th, 2020