THIS is apropos of Dr Raheel Shehzad’s letter (July 21). The quota system is the government of Pakistan’s devised policy to ensure that both rural and urban people in Sindh get a fair chance of competing for jobs on merit, as it was felt that there were limited educational facilities mostly in rural areas in comparison to urban ones.

Despite the said reservation of seats in the Civil Service of Pakistan for candidates from rural Sindh and urban Sindh, 17 vacancies for Sindh (rural) and 40 for Sindh (urban) remained vacant in CSS, 2010, due to the non-availability of suitable candidates.

The figures for CSS, 2011, are 11 and 24, respectively. The positions go vacant due to the non-availability of candidates who are able to meet the laid-down criteria to qualify for the examination. Furthermore, leftover vacancies are carried over to the next year for the province of Sindh.

The decision to allocate CSS vacancies on the basis of 10 per cent women and five per cent minorities’ quotas was made by the federal government, and the FPSC has to abide by it. Even after the reservation of these quotas, 85 per cent of these vacancies are still available to open-merit candidates.

It must be appreciated that women and minorities are a part of our society, and to earmark separate quotas for these two segments is an endeavour on the part of the government to ensure their representation in the Civil Services of Pakistan.

The allocation of vacancies under the present constitutional provisions cannot be made without regional/provincial considerations. It is for the government to decide whether the period of this provision should lapse on Aug 13, 2013.

MUHAMMAD ALIDirector CEIslamabad