FPSC Comes To A Standstill Without A Chairman

FPSC comes to a standstill without a chairman
Islamabad: Despite the lapse of 70 days, President Asif Zardari has not yet appointed a new chairman for the Federal Public Service Commission.

Without a chairman, the functioning of the FPSC has literally come to a standstill. Neither the process for the fresh appointments could be started nor those whose nominations have already been finalised by the Commission could be processed any further in this situation, sources in the FPSC say.

Under Article 242(1-A) of the 1973 Constitution, it is the discretion of the president to appointment the Commissionís chairman.The last chairman, Lt-Gen (retd) Shahid Hameed, retired on March 29. However, despite the lapse of almost 70 days, the president has not yet appointed a new head.

The FPSC is the countryís top institution that makes BS-16 and above appointments in almost all the federal government departments besides conducting the Central Superior Services (CSS) competition every year to make appointments in the civil services.

Under the FPSC Act, the chairman has such a crucial role in the functioning of the Commission that in his absence the recruitment process could neither be initiated nor finalised. The Commission also comprises eleven members but they too are dependent on the work assigned to them by the chairman. In absence of the chairman, no member or any other official of the Commission could look after the work of the chairmanís office. The government also does not have any power to appoint an acting chairman till the appointment of a regular one by the president.

The sources said the CSS 2008 allocations to the successful candidates were awaiting the sanction of the Commissionís chief. The result of the CSS 2008 was announced when the former chairman was in the office but the allocations are yet be made against over 300 vacancies already conveyed by the Establishment Division to the FPSC. The FPSC sources said that all the homework is complete regarding the CSS allocations, which now only require the chairmanís sanction.

Besides, the sources said, the Commission was also helpless to process either those appointments that were sought by different ministries and departments or the nominations that had already been finalised by the Commissionís committees but not yet sent to the respective government departments.

The Commission in routine receives requests from different government agencies to make appointments against the posts that fall within its purview. These posts are advertised following which test and interviews are conducted. For the interviews, it is the chairman, who constitutes committees.

Similarly, some of the two-member committees, which were assigned to interview candidates against different government posts by the former chairman, have completed their assignments and sent their nominations to the chairman office for approval and for their further processing to the respective government department etc for appointment. But these nomination cases are also waiting for the chairmanís formal approval. However, no one knows when would the president appoint the new FPSC chief.