PESHAWAR, Jan 13: The federal government intends to recruit retired audit officers on ad hoc/contract basis in all the four provinces to meet a shortage of auditors.

To fill vacant posts, the provincial and district audit wing of the office of the auditor-general of Pakistan had written to director-general, district audit of all the four provinces, in November 2003, directing them to recruit retired officers against posts in the new district audit system.

An official in the regional audit office said that no direct appointment could be made against the post of audit officer as it required a trained and qualified person. In the previous set up, appointments against the said posts use to be made through promotions.

He said, in the new audit system, the NWFP required 48 each qualified Audit Officers and Assistant Auditor Officers for 24 districts of the province. Currently, there were only 16 trained audit officers and the province faced shortage of 32 qualified auditors.

He said a summary has been put up for the approval of the prime minister in this regard. Recently, the office of the director-general, district government audit, NWFP, conducted interviews for posts of steno- typists, and others for its seven regional offices. In all over 9,000 persons had applied for the said posts.

The selection committee was headed by Director-Audit, District Government, NWFP, Sikandar Khan, while a team of the Auditor-General of Pakistan monitored the entire process of tests and interviews spread over 20 days.-APP