ISLAMABAD: The National Industrial Relations Commission (NIRC) has declared its entire 2025 recruitment process void ab initio, terminating the services of 10 candidates for violations of the Civil Servants Act, 1973, and PPRA Rules, 2004.

An inquiry report signed by acting Chairman Sardar Tahir Sabir found systemic irregularities, including improper constitution of the Departmental Selection Committee (DSC), lack of open competitive bidding for engaging the Candidate Testing Service (CTS), quota violations, overage appointments and fabricated documents.

The decision follows earlier objections raised by the Accountant General of Pakistan Revenues (AGPR), which in a letter dated March 2, 2026, halted salary disbursements for the newly-appointed employees.

The AGPR detected “certain discrepancies and deficiencies” while scrutinising FO1 forms for pay computerisation. It specifically noted that the selection committee was not constituted according to prescribed recruitment rules. The AGPR advised that the minutes of the selection committee meeting be endorsed by the joint secretary of the Ministry of Overseas Pakistanis and Human Resource Development to regularise the process.

The complaints, which prompted the ministry’s directive, alleged that the DSC comprised a registrar (BPS-18), a deputy registrar (BPS-17) and an assistant (BPS-15) holding additional charge, while officers in BPS-21 positions available within the commission were excluded. The engagement of CTS was also questioned as no tenders were invited or quotations obtained from other testing agencies.

Serious allegations of nepotism were also raised. One stenotypist was reportedly the nephew of the assistant serving on the selection committee, while a reader was stated to be the brother-in-law of the IT branch in-charge. An LDC was appointed against a post not mentioned in the advertisement and reportedly shared the same mailing address as a senior employee. Furthermore, a December 2025 communication from an NIRC Lahore bench member regarding a stenotypist’s lack of professional qualifications was reportedly ignored.

The inquiry also noted that unauthorised post upgradations, including the reader to the chairman’s post from BPS-16 to BPS-18, were made without required approvals, and a watchman (BPS-03) was allegedly appointed as reader (BPS-14) without departmental committee proceedings.

Based on these findings, the commission terminated the appointments of the 10 candidates with only Mohammad Anas (court orderly BPS-01) exempted. The personal files of terminated employees shall be sealed, and financial losses are to be recovered from responsible officials, including the then Registrar Arbab Mohammad Amjad, Administrative Officer Zia Haider Rizvi and Deputy Registrar Azhar Rafique Sanjrani. Disciplinary action has also been recommended against DSC members who failed to observe legal formalities.

Published in Dawn, July 7th, 2026