Punjab Ombudsman Khalid Mehmood on Monday directed the inspector general (IG) of Police Punjab to rectify weaknesses in the recruitment process of constables and appointments made under open merit on left over vacancies of minorities quota of five percent be declared as set aside in the whole province.
The ombudsman issued these directions while concluding the hearing of an application filed by Kanwar Lal submitting that he along with other candidates submitted their forms at Rahim Yar Khan for recruitment as constables.
Mehmood directed the IGP that candidates of minorities appointed against minorities quota should be excluded and allowed to continue their duties. The ombudsman also held that these vacant seats be advertised again and all necessary terms and conditions be published in detail and a separate questionnaire should be formulated for minorities. Questions should be of basic nature to check candidates’ grip over Urdu, English and general knowledge and questions should not be related to any religion.
The applicants were eligible for appointment under the minorities’ quota and qualified for all recruitments but despite the fact that they were not hired. Lal requested the court to issue directions to the Rahim Yar Khan district police officer (DPO) to appoint him along with other candidates as constables against the quota for minorities.
After receiving the application, Mehmood deputed Fayyaz Tehsin, consultant, Regional Office Multan as investigating officer who called a report from the Rahim Yar Khan DPO who said that total 190 constables were to be appointed and for that a selection board was constituted which was headed by a deputy inspector general (DIG) level officer and the whole process of selection was done under supervision of the selection board. The complainant could not qualify in the written test and consequently, they were not appointed.
In response to the department’s report, the complainant stated that the department declared that failing the test is the reason for not appointing them, whereas, under the quota system being healthy, Matriculation qualified, physical measurements and success in the race are considered enough to qualify for the recruitment. They did well in their written test but the selection board of Rahim Yar Khan did not appoint any candidate under the minorities’ quota while instructing them that they could be qualified on open merit if they have passed the written test.
The Rahim Yar Khan DSP (legal), at this stage presented the record showing that nine out of the total 190 vacancies were allocated for minorities’ quota and according to the final result, 168 on open merit and only one candidate each from the allocated quota for women and minorities were recruited. According to recruitment policy 2010, those candidates are eligible for written test that fulfil the desired standard of physical measurements etc. The complainant appeared in the written test after being successful in the physical test and scored 42 marks in total.
According to policy, a candidate is declared successful who scores 40 percent marks in each section of questionnaire and 50 percent in total. The complainant was not called for interview upon securing 42 percent marks. The ombudsman concluded that the situation is against the basic rules of justice and in fact a violation of instruction at Para Number 15 of the Recruitment Policy 2010 issued by the IGP. According to policy, 100 numbers questionnaire of written test, 25 numbers to Urdu, 25 numbers to English and 50 numbers to general knowledge should be allotted.
But in the questionnaire concerned, Islamiat was focused instead of Urdu. Consequently, the whole process is against the spirit of the Recruitment Policy 2010 and it falls in maladministration under Section 2(1)(b) of the Punjab Office of the Ombudsman Act 1997. According to the recruitment policy, the section concerned of the test should have consisted of Urdu and literature questions. This is the recruitment process for police constable not a mosque cleric. A separate question paper should be formulated of questions of basic nature.
It would be appropriate if questions were related to Pakistan Studies. Questions pertaining to the first part are unjust with minorities. That is the reason that only one candidate was selected out of nine allocated seats. Selection under open merit on leftover vacancies of the minorities’ quota is also considered unjust. Spirit of justice claims that number of seats allocated to the minorities’ quota should be filed out of the minorities’ quota only. The ombudsman directed the IGP to submit a compliance report within two months on the above directions.
