38 Information Officers: Sindh govt to refer matter of appointments to SPSC

KARACHI: The Sindh government has decided to refer the matter of appointments of 38 Information Officers of Sindh Information and Archives Department to the Sindh Public Service Commission (SPSC) for assessing their suitability for the said positions after the lapse of nine years.

In connection with the said appointments, the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) has initiated an investigation against incumbent Chief Minister Sindh Syed Murad Ali Shah, former Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah, former minister information Sharjeel Memon, former Chief Secretary Rizwan Memon, and six secretaries of the Sindh government. The Sindh government also asked the Sindh Accountant General's (AG) office to stop the salaries of the said officers.

Documentary evidences available with The News reveal that some 42 persons, majority of them sons, brothers, and close relatives of Sindh’s ruling Pakistan People’s Party, were appointed in 2012 and two journalists in June 2017, contradicting the Sindh Service Rules by misinterpreting the Sindh High Court order.

According to the service rules, any person having masters degree of mass-communication (journalism) is eligible for the position of the post of Information Officer of Grade 17, only through the test and interview of the Sindh Public Service Commission but in 2012 only to accommodate the favorite persons, the said rules were illegally amended by fixing the criteria of the post masters degree in any subject and positions were filled only through walk-in-interviews by the department itself.

It is pertinent to mention here that from 2003 to-date, only 25 Information Officers having degrees of ‘Masters in Mass Communication’ could get jobs on merit through the Sindh Public Service Commission but in 2013, the Sindh government by misusing powers appointed 43 Information Officers.

The NAB sources informed that sufficient evidence has been gathered by the Bureau and in the coming days, some high-profile arrests are expected in connection with the said case. According to NAB official correspondence, CM Murad Shah was asked through an official letter that “during his incumbency as chief minister in 2017, he has approved the summary for regularization of 38 Information Officers of Grade 17, which prima facie is against the law as the Sindh Public Service Commission was kept out of the loop at the time of regularisation. Moreover, the officers who were regularised were not eligible for the posts they held that time because they were illegally appointed in 2012”.

In this regard, a questionnaire had also been sent to CM Sindh Shah and on October 15, 2020, then CM Sindh Shah appeared before the NAB Karachi and recorded his statement in the said matter.