ISLAMABAD: The Establishment Division issued on Saturday the recruitment policy for the federal services, autonomous bodies and corporations on the directives of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in the wake of lifting of the ban on hiring for government jobs.

The policy, issued in pursuance of the Establishment Division’s order of Sept 25 regarding lifting of the ban on recruitment by the federal government, will be applicable to the ministries, divisions, attached departments, subordinate offices, autonomous and semi-autonomous bodies, corporations, companies and authorities.

Under the policy, recruitment to posts in Basic Pay Scale (BPS) 16 and above shall continue to be made through the Federal Public Service Commission.

The initial appointments to posts required to be made on a countrywide basis shall be made under Rule 14 of the Civil Servants (Appointment, Promotion and Transfer) Rules, 1973.

Appointment to posts in BPS-3 to BPS-15 and equivalent positions in offices which are required to serve only in a particular province or region shall be made by appointing persons domiciled there under Rule-15 and vacancies in BPS-1 and BPS-2 and equivalent posts shall ordinarily be filled on a local basis under Rule-16 of the 1973 rules.

The appointments shall be made strictly in accordance with the recruitment rules of the post concerned. In the absence of recruitment rules, the ministries, divisions, attached departments, subordinate offices, autonomous and semi-autonomous bodies, corporations, companies and authorities are first required to frame them and lay down the eligibility conditions for appointments. No recruitment shall be made in the absence of approved recruitment rules.

The requirement of obtaining a no-objection certificate from the Surplus Pool of the Establishment Division will remain in place for all recruitments.

The vacancies in each ministry, division, department, autonomous body and corporation in accordance with the quotas will be advertised through widely-published national, provincial and regional newspapers and at least 15 days will be given for receipt of applications.

The applicants will apply on a prescribed format without being asked for copies of educational documents, but they may be asked to bring the original documents at the time of test or interview.

The quotas for provinces and regions, women, religious minorities and disabled people or any other prescribed quota should be indicated clearly against the vacant posts advertised, along with the required qualification and age limit as provided in the rules, including general age relaxation.

The policy stresses that the vacancies should be filled only against the sanctioned strength of the said category and the authorities concerned will have to finalise the recruitments within 60 days after the date of advertisement.

“The deficiency in the existing provincial/regional representation, if any, in the federal services, including autonomous/semi-autonomous bodies, may be adjusted, according to the policy.”

The administrative ministries and divisions shall ensure merit and transparency in the recruitment process at all levels and candidates using or attempting to use any extraneous influence shall be liable to be disqualified.

Draft advertisements to the published for recruitments will be submitted to the Establishment Division for their onward transfer to the information ministry and no direct advertisements will be placed by any organisation.

Published in Dawn, November 2nd, 2014