ISLAMABAD, Feb 17: The Capital Development Authority (CDA) has decided to follow the previous criteria for induction of 1,600 employees, as the new criterion set by the interior ministry has failed to deliver , a source in the CDA told Dawn on Tuesday.

The source said due to the new education criteria, which was tougher than the previous one, a limited number of people had applied for the vacant posts. "Under the new criterion, we can only induct intermediate people as plumber.

However, only two applications have been received against 12 posts of this trade," he said. A summary has been sent to the CDA board for restoration of the previous criterion, he added.

The Authority has received 40,000 applications for various posts from BS-1 to 17. However, due to the strict criterion, under which a matriculate is required for the post of peon, security guard and gardener, the process of fresh induction is in the doldrums.

Under the new educational criterion the minimum qualification for the BS-1 is matriculation. However, under the previous one even a person having eighth class certificate was eligible for BS-1.

The source said in order to fill the vacant posts, the Authority had invited applications one-and-a-half-year ago but about 50,000 applications were rejected on the instructions of the interior ministry.

Following the rejection of the applications, the Authority invited fresh applications and six months ago some 40,000 applications had been submitted for various posts.

Meanwhile, an official of the ministry told Dawn that the new educational criterion was set to ensure better efficiency on no-favour basis. "We want to see educated and energetic people on vacant posts to improve the Authority's performance," the official said.

He said the education criterion was set only for non- technical posts and new recruitment on technical posts would be made as per the previous criterion.