ISLAMABAD: A thousand rupees is being asked for a character certificate from each applicant while applying for a job recently advertised by the capital police, even though such a clearance is required after final selection.

The advertisement said “Fee Rs1,500/- (Islamabad Police Character/Verification Fee Rs1,000 and Recruitment/Documentation Processing Fee Rs500). The candidates applying for more than one post shall have to pay the fee for each post separately, it added.

Police officers told Dawn that as per the recruitment procedure, each applicant has to meet the criteria of height to appear in the next step of meeting the criteria of chest size. Those who fail to meet the criteria of height and chest size would be excluded from the selection procedure, they added.

An applicant who meets these two criteria must also cover a certain distance (1.5 miles) within 10.5 minutes for men and 15 minutes for women, the officers said, adding that those who fail to cover the distance will not be included in the next stage of the selection process.

DIG says fee being sought at initial stage to make process ‘fairer’

The next step is the written test, followed by interviews, they said, adding that for each post, three to four applicants would be selected for the interview. After the final selection, the medical test will be conducted and candidates are asked for a character certificate (police clearance), they said, adding that this time the police asked for Rs1,000 for the character certificate at the time of the application.

Earlier, the capital police made the character certificate free of cost, but on April 29, the fee was introduced.

Recently the police advertised 118 posts for assistant sub-inspectors, 800 posts for constables, and 195 posts for ministerial staff. Probably, the 100,000 to 150,000 applicants will apply for the posts and the police will collect Rs100 million to Rs150 million from these candidates, said a senior officer privy to recruitment. The police will collect only Rs1.1m if the Rs1,000 will be asked from the selected 1,113 candidates for the character certificate.

In 2023, the capital police advertised 1,668 posts of constable and in response over 148,000 applications were received for the posts. After scrutiny 110,000 applications were approved for physical tests and only 26,000 applicants passed it. Later, interviews were called and 1607 candidates were selected for medical tests and police verification, they said, adding that 61 posts remained vacant due to the non-availability of the eligible candidates.

A police station can issue certificates only to those who are residing in their jurisdiction as per the CNIC address, the officers said, adding that however, the police are asking Rs1000 from all applicants irrespective of their residence address. The officers further said that the character certificate was issued under Police Rules and the area police issued the same after checking the Police Register No. 4, 6, 9 and 10 of the police station, they added.

When contacted, Deputy Inspector General Syed Ali Raza said the Rs1,000 was the fee for the character certificate and the verification was being conducted at the early stages “to make it fairer and clear all doubts about the applicant”.

Published in Dawn, July 7th, 2024