LAHORE, March 8: The Punjab Assembly has withdrawn 10 posts in BS-17 and 18 requisitioned to the Punjab Public Service Commission, and the speaker has decided to make recruitments by himself.

The previous government of Governor Khalid Maqbool had requisitioned 12 posts, two already filled by the PPSC, in November last year.

The posts included two deputy secretaries (BS-18), four assistant secretaries (BS-17), one each PRO and PSO to the Assembly’s secretary, private secretary, a computer programmer (BS-17), and two Urdu reporters (BS-16).

Following the requisition, it is learnt that the commission advertised these posts and almost completed the process to fill the vacancies before these were withdrawn.

When contacted, PPSC Chairman Jahangir Nasrullah confirmed that the Punjab Assembly had asked the commission to stop its recruitment process, as it would itself recruit the candidates for the posts.

He said the commission had, however, finalized the process for the selection of two Urdu reporters and sent recommendations for their posting in the Punjab Assembly.

He said the recruitment process had almost completed when the PA, a few days ago, asked the commission to stop the process. The Punjab home department had also withdrawn 108 posts of sub-inspectors when the commission had almost completed the recruitment process, he added.

The Punjab Assembly officials told this reporter that 10 posts had been withdrawn from the PPSC. They said now the Punjab Assembly Speaker would recruit candidates to fill the posts.

To a question, they said the Urdu reporters’ posts were not withdrawn because their appointment recommendations had reached the assembly secretariat before the remaining posts were withdrawn.

The officials, however, claimed that only one Urdu reporter would be appointed against a post in the assembly.

Talking to Dawn, various candidates expressed shock over withdrawal of posts after almost four months. They said they had applied for the posts in November last year and paid Rs400 along with each application. After processing the applications, they said, the PPSC had called them for an interview on Feb 19. However, the commission, two days before the interview, sent a letter saying they would be required to appear for a written test before interviews. “As we were preparing for a written test, the PPSC has informed us that the Punjab Assembly has withdrawn the posts,” they lamented.