LAHORE, Jan 27: A probe committee is learnt to have found irregularities in the recruitment of around 250 lower grade police staffers by a body constituted by the former IG, Haji Habibur Rehman.

Sources informed Dawn on Sunday the three-member committee was constituted by Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif to find out whether the recruitment of low-grade staffers by the former IG was made under the law or not.

They said a committee constituted by the former IG had recruited around 250 police employees, including drivers,  messengers and cooks, for the counter terrorism department sometime ago.

They said the committee had found that the recruitment was made despite written objections raised by the quarters concerned that it was being done in the absence of related rules.

These quarters had strongly recommended formulation of rules for the recruitment before inviting applications for the posts.

They said the committee had found the recruitment was made under some rules which were formed before the enactment of the Police Order 2002.

The staffers were recruited from Lahore for all district-level wings of the counter terrorism department which was against the rules, they said.

The recruitment should have been made throughout the province by the district police authorities, selecting local staff for the offices, the sources said.

They said the committee had termed central recruitment an injustice to the jobseekers elsewhere in the province. There was no policy for the recruitment and the sole criterion was the sweet will of the committee, they added.

The sources said the selection was likely to be declared  irregular and illegal soon.