QUETTA : Baluchistan Chief Minister Mir Sarfraz Bugti on Friday reaffirmed the revoke all the illegal appointments’ in the Provincial Education Department after a thorough probe and investigations.
The decision comes in response to the widespread public outcry and the reported evidence of corruption in the recruitment process carried out by the Sardar Bahadur Khan Women’s University.“I will not allow anyone to sale jobs in Balochistan and deprive a child who fulfills merit and criteria,” Chief Minister Bugti said while talking to the newsmen. “We have received serious complaints about the corrupt mafia who had sold jobs and deprived the deserving poor candidates.”
The chief minister, reiterating the government’s resolve to uphold the policy of merit and good governance, said the matter would be fully probed and he would not hesitate to revoke the appointments if the same were found against the merit.In light of the Supreme Court’s order, such appointments could be revoked at any time, he added.
The chief minister said that he had directed the Chief Secretary to hold an inquiry into the issue and “after consultations with the Education Minister, the final decision will be made”. CM Bugti said the entire Balochistan “knows how these jobs were sold and the deserving candidates were deprived of their right”.Last year, some 8, 500 non-teaching staff positions in the Department of Education were advertised for which over 300,000 applications were submitted with the Sardar Bahadur Khan Women’s University, which was authorized to conduct the tests and interviews.
However, it was revealed that former education ministers and a mafia comprising corrupt officials and others had allegedly collected millions of rupees from the unemployed candidates, but the appointment process was not completed within the stipulated 90-day period as mandated by the Balochistan Recruitment Policy 2019.The policy, approved by the previous provincial assembly, requires that tests, interviews, merit postings, higher authority approvals, and appointment orders for non-gazetted positions be completed within 90 days. Any delay beyond this period grants the competent authority the right to cancel the process and re-advertise the positions.
Despite the passage of one and a half years, the appointments have neither been made nor the codal formalities fulfilled till date. This has led to significant frustration and disappointment among the deserving candidates.The victims of the job selling mafia have praised Chief Minister Bugti for his commitment to address the issue and they demanded that the positions should be re-advertised according to the rules and suggested replacing the District Recruitment Committee (DRC) with the chairman and members of the Chief Minister Inspection Team CMIT committee to ensure a fair and merit-based recruitment process.
It may be recalled that the former caretaker prime minister Anwarul Haq Kakar has also criticized the SBK’s appointment, expressing his displeasure and raising serious questions on the process adopted for filling the posts.On the other hand, the successful candidates have claimed that the delay in results was a violation of the court’s order.
The Balochistan High Court, however, ruled against the candidates citing lack of any evidence. The candidates said that the decision was challenged in the Supreme Court that ordered the Education Department to release the results.“We are not afraid of taking the test again,” the successful candidates said, urging the CM to make a just decision.
