PESHAWAR, Oct 11: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government on Monday approved a mechanism and criteria for appointment of members of Provincial Public Service Commission, putting in place for the first time a system to regulate placements in this prestigious body.

A notification issued by establishment and administration department said all the future appointments of Provincial Public Service Commission (PPSC) members would be recommended by a high-level 'Search Committee'.

The notification about eligibility criteria and constitution of the Search Committee came as a follow-up of working of a committee, which was constituted in April this year.

This committee, headed by former chief secretary, having PPSC chairman, and sectaries of higher education, elementary and secondary education and establishment as its members had worked for months and came up with this mechanism, an official told Dawn .

Till recent, the official said, there was no such committee to look out for suitable professionals to be appointed as member of PPSC, as mainly the governor (prior to 18th amendment) and now the chief minister would appoint them purely on their discretion.

“That procedure was prone to nepotism and subsequently was raising questions about transparency of PPSC, which recruits officers and officials for government departments,” a senior official said.

The PPSC consists of one chairman and 10 members, who are appointed for a period of five years. This commission conducts tests and examinations for recruitment of officials from grade 16 and above besides advising governor on matters related to qualification for and method of recruitment to services.

According to the notification, there will be a search committee, headed by the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa chief secretary, with one each retired civil servant, vice-chancellor of a public university and MPA (nominated by chief minister) and secretary of establishment as its members.

Consequently, the government notified Azam Khan, a former chief secretary and Imtiaz Hussain Gillani, Vice-chancellor of University of Engineering and Technology Peshawar as members of this committee for a period of three years. The tenure of MPA, nominated by the chief minister, would be for duration of his incumbency, the notification said.

The committee, as per the terms and references, will pay least regard to the zone to which the sitting chairman of the PPSC belongs at the time of selection of a member. However, his or her domicile will be counted for the purpose of zonal representation.

Similarly, it will ensure equal representation in membership to different zones, while technical services may be represented to the extent of two, one each from engineering and health sector.

The Search Committee will also ensure possible replacement of a technical member with a person of same category.

Likewise, the notification also spelled out the eligibility criteria for a person to be appointed as member of the PPSC.

A person to be recommended as member of PPSC must be having a domicile from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, known for integrity and honesty with an unblemished record of public service and a person of balanced and impartial personality.

Similarly, in case of ex-government servants, the recommended person must have retired in BS-20 or above with a 20 years outstanding service. They will be selected in such a way that their term of office as members expires on attaining the age of 66 years.

Moreover, the Search Committee will be responsible to make sure that the person, it recommends as PPSC member was a knowledgeable, well-read and broadly educated, keen to intellects and physically fit. There would be always one female member of PPSC, the notification added.