THE Federal Public Service Commission (FPSC) has recently posted an advertisement for the recruitment of 78 inspectors for the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR). One advertisement was published in 2018 (F4-150G/2018-R), while another advertisement, for the same designation, was published a little later (F4-178/2018-R).

Of course, these two advertisements helped in raising finances for the recruiting agency as thousands of unemployed candidates deposited the required examination fee. After conducting the said tests, interviews for only the first advertisement were held in December 2021, but no final result has been displayed till date. However, needless to say, the agency subjected thousands of candidates to anxiety for no reason. And now, without finishing the process of recruitment for the earlier said posts, it has advertised the same vacancies. How can it do that?

How much money this recruiting agency will generate by conducting the same set of examinations for the same posts is anybody’s guess. What makes this scenario even worse is the predicament of those candidates who are still waiting for the final result of their efforts for almost four years now.

This wait is humiliating in itself, but posting another advertisement in order to make money, calling for naïve candidates to apply for the same posts is adding insult to injury. Either the government is unaware of the current rate of unemployment among well-qualified people or it just wants to generate money for running its business regardless of the mental torture such delays cause to the candidates.

The state of such affairs is pathetic for it only robs unemployed people of their money.

Saman Aftab
Lahore

Published in Dawn, January 19th, 2022