Govt considers exemption for Civil Armed Forces recruitment

ISLAMABAD: (Rizwan Abbasi) The federal government is preparing an important decision regarding the recruitment process in the Civil Armed Forces.

As per the sources, the government has decided to review this process, declaring recruitment through third parties or outsourcing a security risk.

Government sources say that in view of security concerns, a proposal to exempt the Civil Armed Forces from the rightsizing policy is under consideration. It has been recommended that due to the requirements of national security, the rightsizing policy should not be applied in this force, especially in the case of recruitments from grades one to four, a special exemption should be given.

According to sources, a summary of exemption from recruitment through outsourcing will be presented to the federal cabinet for approval. Officials are of the opinion that in view of the sensitive nature of the Civil Armed Forces, the recruitment process must be carried out under direct and transparent government supervision.

It should be noted that under the current government’s expenditure reduction and institutional reforms, the rightsizing policy was introduced, under which it was decided to run the general cadre and non-core services through outsourcing. Under this policy, departments like cleaning, plumbing and gardening have been outsourced in various federal institutions.

Under the rightsizing policy, a ban was imposed on several new posts of lower grades including Naib Qasid, Mali and Khakroob, while new posts of Sanity Worker, Record Sorter, Carpenter, Electrician and Plumber have also been abolished. Moreover, ministries, divisions and institutions have been stopped from creating new posts and vacant posts have been declared as dying posts.

However, in view of the needs of security institutions, relaxation or exemption from this policy is now being considered for the civil armed forces, the final decision of which will be subject to the approval of the federal cabinet.