THE remarks that Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Qazi Faez Isa made during hearing of a case related to job quota for children of serving or retired bureaucrats offer a ray of hope for merit-based recruitments in future if his views are reflected in the final verdict and clear guidelines are issued to federal and provincial governments on the subject. The CJP rejected the notion of inherited job rights saying why should a son automatically get his father’s government job? Shouldn’t jobs be given to those who meet merit criteria? he asked.
The policy of providing a suitable job to one of the children of those who died during service is understandable as, sometimes, such deaths bring untold miseries for the bereaved families if there was no other bread earner. However, it would be sheer injustice to job seekers if quotas are formally allocated for serving or retired employees. Almost all jobs require certain qualifications, skills and experience and these must not be compromised for any other consideration. It is also an open secret that quota or no quotas, serving employees are always in an advantageous position to influence the process of recruitment in favour of their own children or relatives and an impartial inquiry would confirm that most of the new inductees against vacant posts have linkages with officials of that particular institution. There are numerous instances when those accommodated against various vacancies lack required criteria like computer knowledge, typing, shorthand, driving and other professional skills. This is one of the main reasons behind a nosedive in performance and output of various departments.
The CJP has rightly pointed out that government employees already receive pensions after retirement, and their widows are entitled to those pensions after their death. Then why should their children get jobs? As job quotas of all sorts are in clear violation of Constitutional principle of non-discrimination and hiring against vacancies should be done purely on merit.
