LAHORE, Aug 26: The Punjab government has sent a requisition to the Punjab Public Service Commission to recruit nearly 700 prosecutors on a regular basis to replace all those employed on a contract as a stopgap arrangement to run the newly-created independent department.

The PPSC would recruit the prosecutors in phases in one year. Those from amongst the existing contractual staff could apply for the regular appointments provided they were eligible for the posts which carried an upper age limit. But as scores of them had crossed the prescribed age limits, they would be removed from the service after the induction of regular staff, official sources informed Dawn here on Sunday.

They said the prosecution department had also notified the service rules of the prosecutors a few days ago, making it possible to properly run the service.

The posts to be filled on a regular basis included additional prosecutor generals, deputy district prosecutors and assistant prosecutors. The posts of district prosecutors would be filled through promotions according to the policy. There are 15 posts of additional prosecutor generals half of which would be filled through direct appointments and the remaining through promotions, sources said.

The assistant prosecutors would be recruited in BS-17, deputy district prosecutors in BS-18 and additional prosecutor generals in BS-19, giving them an additional monthly allowance of Rs5,000, Rs7,500 and Rs10,000 a month, respectively.

According to sources, the government had engaged hundreds of lawyers as additional prosecutor generals, deputy district and assistant prosecutors on a contact under directions from the Lahore High Court as a stopgap arrangement to run the department till the induction of officers on a regular basis through the PPSC.

The LHC had asked the government to recruit the officers on a regular basis in six months and now the requisition had been sent to the PPSC. The commission had, in turn, sought one year for recruiting the staff because the induction process involved written and viva voce tests, making the process lengthy.

Sources said in the meantime, a committee also constituted by the LHC was confirming the antecedents of those recruited on a contract basis through the “pick and choose” process once a week. The committee comprised a former LHC judge, a member of the PPSC, the prosecution department secretary and the prosecutor general.

The government had through a selection committee, headed by the additional chief secretary, inducted 45 out of the 59 district attorneys as district prosecutors in BS-19 on a regular basis.

Similarly, 150 out of the 200 deputy district attorneys were inducted as deputy district prosecutors in BS-18. The government had also inducted, though after initial reluctance, 107 inspectors legal of the police department as assistant prosecutors in BS-17 as against their own officials in BS-16.