THIS is apropos of the letter by Azizullah Chandio (April 28).

Habib Ullah, Roll No. 1036, appeared in Competitive Examination 2009 in which he claimed his date of birth to be 1.7.1981 in his application form and not 1.1.1981. However, Habib failed in his written examinations.

In response to the point raised in the letter, regarding a female candidate, it may be stated that Miss Asma Kamal, Roll No. 2635, the candidate for CE 2008, qualified for the written examination but her result was withheld.

A full investigation regarding her BBIT degree result was carried out.

The Vice-Chancellor, Punjab University, clarified that she had completed all her degree requirements before 31.12.2007 and that her result was declared before 1.1.2008 (the cut-off date), her CSS result was declared and she was allocated the Commerce and Trade Group.

Her case was thoroughly scrutinised and decided on merit. This had nothing to do with the candidate's father's service in the Pakistan Army, as insinuated by Mr Chandio.

The contention that the format of the public notice was arbitrarily changed by the Federal Public Service Commission (FPSC) is incorrect.

In this connection, it is clarified that in the previous format of the public notice, the eligibility conditions regarding age were not given in detail.

However, after the orders of the Sindh High Court reproduced below, the format of the public notice was accordingly altered.

“In passing, we may also advise the FPSC to ensure that it should publish the eligibility strictly in accordance with rules and regulations in future advertisements and also scrutinise the applications carefully to determine whether the candidates are eligible for appearing in the examination to avoid such petitions in future.”

Comparison of the Sindh High Court and Supreme Court verdicts by the writer is uncalled for and in bad taste.

The grant of age relaxation does not fall within the purview of the FPSC, as age limits are fixed by the government, and FPSC strictly adheres to these instructions.

BASHIR AHMAD
Director General FPSC
Islamabad