PIT declares recruitment of sub-engineers in PHED illegal

PESHAWAR: The Provincial Inspection Team (PIT) has declared recruitment of sub-engineers in the Public Health Engineering Department (PHED) illegal, discriminatory, mala fide and in sheer violation of merit.

The PIT has also raised serious questions on the performance and testing mechanism of the Educational Testing and Evaluation Agency (ETEA) in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

The PIT has recommended suspension of six officials including chief engineer, two superintending engineers, a section officer and two admin officers of the PHED till the conclusion of the inquiry. The PIT has submitted its report to the KP chief minister and recommended cancellation of recruitment of sub-engineers.

The PIT report requested to re-advertise the posts to uphold the merit, transparency, fair play, justice and equal playing field to candidates. According to the report, the PHED initiated an inquiry on alleged illegal recruitments of seventeen sub-engineers (BPS 12). Seventy-seven candidates applied for the post of sub-engineer. Roll numbers were issued by the ETEA and the candidates were directed to appear in the ETEA test.

The total fee received by the ETEA was supposed to be Rs 38,500 but as per the ETEA bank statement, the total amount received by the ETEA was Rs 12,500.

It clearly indicated that only 25 applicants deposited the required fee in the bank account. It was noted that since the promulgation of the ETEA Ordinance 2001, the organization failed to notify by-laws/rules. According to the record submitted by the PHED, it was observed that Amin Javed, complainant, topped the result of ETEA test under Minority Quota, by securing 51/100 marks. Despite production of experience certificate during the interview, he was awarded zero marks out of 8 marks due to his experience with a private organization but the same procedure was not followed in other cases. The department reply was found unsatisfactory.

According to the available record, candidate Shayan, another complainant, secured 37/100 marks in the ETEA test and stood 6th on ETEA merit list. He was not awarded experience marks by the DSC due to reasons best known to them. The department did not clarify why despite producing experience certificate by Shayan, the DSC did not consider his experience appropriate and denied experience marks. It appears to be a transgression from the laid down method provided in the rules.

The report stated that it was found that one of the recommended candidates namely Anthony produced a forged experience certificate and the same upon verification was found forged/fake and not verified by the organization concerned.

The report revealed that the ETEA failed to deliver services in accordance with its objectives contained in the ETEA Ordinance 2001. The element of dubious activities and collusion with the PHED by producing attendance sheets of 52/77 candidates can’t be ruled out.

The process of recruitment and selection initiated by the PHED and the ETEA was flawed, dubious, illegal, unlawful and against the rules. The members of the Departmental Selection Committee (DSC) were found guilty of showing dereliction from duty, intentionally committing illegalities.

As the ETEA did not deliver upon its responsibilities and lost trust, the contract of the employees may not be extended further. The PIT further recommended initiating a departmental inquiry under END Rules 2011 against Chief Engineer Nematullah Khan, Superintending Engineers Amjad Ali and Qaisar Zaman, Section Officer Ghaniur Rehman, Admin Officers Malik Ayaz and Salimur Rehman and kept them under suspension till the conclusion of the inquiry.