LAHORE, May 1: Though Punjab Public Service Commission members select officials for the provincial government strictly in accordance with criteria set for each post, there is no standard followed for their own induction.

All the PPSC members are top retired bureaucrats and police officials, and they are inducted merely on chief minister recommendation, drawing hefty salaries and perks like cars even after their retirement.

Besides the salary and transport, another main attraction for the retired bureaucrats to be on PPSC is the retention of the posh official residences in the GORs through one mean or another. And many retired police officials continue to use department’s vehicles which they cannot under the rules.

The selection for the PPSC members is quite often based on personal likes and dislikes of the chief executive of the province. It often reads like a selection of chief minister's favourite retired officers.

The present PPSC is also no exception and there are many on the Commission who are said to be enjoying the exalted position for having good rapport with the Punjab bosses.

According to the PPSC Ordinance, 1978, the Commission shall have not less than one-half of the members who have held office in the service of Pakistan in basic scale 21 or above.

The law provides for the induction of one member each from amongst women and persons from private sector, and retired professionals in BPS 20 or above of the government with not less than 15-year experience in the field of engineering, agriculture, education, medicine or dentistry, forensics, environment, information technology, law or any other professional field. The existing Commission has no member from theses categories

Sources say that so many government officials retire from service every year but only those having good relations with the provincial government are given a chance to become PPSC members. “It’s simply a favour,” a source says.

The sitting PPSC members from the District Management Group (DMG) are: Humayun Farshori, Safdar Javaid Syed, Ziaur Rehman, Qazi Afaq, Rauf Chaudhry, Sibtain Fazle Haleem and Dr Shehzad Qaiser. All of them had been holding top posts in the Punjab and federal governments before their retirement.

Two former IGPs and one former CCPO of Lahore -- Mr Shaukat Javaid, Tariq Saleem Dogar and Pervaiz Rathore, respectively -- are also members of the Commission.

The only woman member of the PPSC is Ms Rukhsana Memon who is a retired officer of the Audit and Accounts Group.

The tenure of Mr Shaukat Javaid is ending shortly and he is being replaced by Mr Arshad bin Ahmad who is a provincial officer, and has recently retired from service.

Sources said Mr Ahmad had been made Commission member in accordance with a court interpretation that members of the provincial services too belong to the service of Pakistan.