LARKANA: Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah has ordered fresh recruitment process for over 400 sanctioned vacancies in the Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto Medical University (SMBBMU) on the recommendation of an inquiry committee, which found gross irregularities in the process and called for declaring the appointments null and void.

The committee was headed by Larkana Commissioner Mohammed Abbas Baloch with other members being Higher Education Comm­is­sion (HEC) Sindh Director Noor Mohammed Shah and former principal of the Chandka Medical College Prof Dr Sher Mohammed Shaikh.

A letter issued by section officer (universities) Pir Bakhsh Junejo to the SMBBMU vice chancellor advised him to take necessary steps in the light of the CM’s order. Vice Chancellor Prof Dr Ghulam Asghar Channa on Monday confirmed having received the letter and said steps would be taken in the light of the CM’s directives.

The inquiry committee in its report said that the 401 appointments made by the central selection committee, notified on Feb 2, 2017, be declared null and void.

The 14-page report was sent to the secretary to the CM on universities and boards on June 6, 2017.

According to the report, the recruitment process lacks absolute transparency and there is sufficient doubt available to render the whole process dubious and questionable. The process may be nullified and void ab initio and may be reinitiated after fulfilling the recommendations.

The committee has also recommended framing of recruitment rules which are consistent with the university’s charter/Universities Act within a period of one month.

During the same period, appointment of a full-time registrar and human resource director may be made through a competitive process, as envisaged in the charter.

Inquiry committee finds gross irregularities

In this context, the committee referred to the Supreme Court judgement of July 2013 which said regular posts should not be filled with ad hoc, contract, OPS or retired employees.

The committee said that the registrar, who was also chairman of the central selection committee, did not submit his statement despite having committed to do so.

The committee observed in its report that due process of appointments on such a large number of BPS-16 and lower grade vacancies was not carried out properly and that the whole application process was non-transparent from the very beginning.

It noted that the advertisement [inviting applications for the posts] was defective as total number of seats was not mentioned in it.

The scrutiny committee was formed but its minutes were not shared with the committee during the inquiry. Also the shortlisting process was not shared with the inquiry committee, according to the report.

It observed that neither the candidates were informed about reason(s) for the rejection of applications nor were they given time to file representations against their rejection.

The marks obtained by candidates in the written tests were neither made public nor shared with the inquiry committee, thus casting a shadow of doubt over transparency of the whole process.

The committee further noted that the whole recruitment process was completed within a day and one could not comprehend as to how 1,808 applications could be scrutinised and so many candidates could be interviewed or tested within a single day.

The committee observed that there was weak supervision by the higher authority on the recruitment process.

It also found that the central selection committee was not constituted under any recruitment rule or policy, because no such rules existed for the university to follow.

It concluded that all 401 candidates were recruited in different cadres without following the formalities.

Published in Dawn, October 24th, 2017