Federal Affairs and General Administration Minister Lal Babu Pandit has claimed that the Public Service Commission (PSC) announced vacancy for over 9,000 local level staffers as the provinces have yet to form their own PSC and argued that it is not inclusive as required by the Constitution in lack of federal act for civil service.
The State Affairs Committee of the parliament on Monday instructed the PSC to cancel the vacancy deeming it exclusive and against the spirit of federalism.
But Minister Pndit defended the vacancy announcement. "One can ensure inclusion when advertisement is made on a single unit like the center. It can also be ensured if seven different announcements are made for the seven provinces. But it cannot be ensured when announcement for all the provinces are made through a single advertisement," Minister Pandit argued. "There are currently 753 local bodies. Inclusion could not be maintained when all 753 is seen as one. There is no legal ground to consider all 753 units as one."
He claimed that vacancy announced by considering each province as one unit will maintain inclusion. The percentage of inclusion will rise after subsequent vacancy announcements, according to him.
"Local level representatives are coming almost every day to hand over the keys of the local bodies. Angry provincial ministers come to my ministry threatening to resign if we don't provide staffers. We all know that there is a need for new staffers to move the process of development and service delivery forward," he pointed.
He also claimed that the vacancy was announced through the PSC as many local bodies recruited their near and dear ones as staffers. "We have received letters for action against the individuals recruited on contract and the process. They have not recruited outside their near and dear ones. The international donor bodies are also expressing interest in human resource management," he added.
He argued that a certain standard can be maintained if the recruitment is done through the PSC and claimed that the federal PSC has announced vacancy stepping on the legal provision that allows the federal government to recruit staffers until the provincial PSCs are formed.
He added that the Federal Affairs and General Administration Ministry only played a coordinating role in vacancy announcement after local bodies demanded staffers, and argued that it is the PSC's responsibility to ensure inclusion in vacancy announcement.
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