CSS posts' vacancies piling up in Pakistan every year, 10-year data shows

• 10-year data of CSS results shows that not all vacant posts being filled for want of suitable candidates.
• Reserved seats for women and minorities of Pakistan not filling up, FPSC Annual Report 2019 shows.
• Government should ease criteria for CSS exams for minorities as most fall below poverty line, suggests PTI MNA Dr Ramesh Kumar.

ISLAMABAD: The government has been unable to fill all the CSS posts mainly because of non-availability of suitable candidates from Sindh, Balochistan, The News reported, citing official data spanning over 10 years.

Most of these vacancies are on the reserved quota seats for women from Balochistan, Sindh and Gilgit-Baltistan, and minorities from across Pakistan, according to the FPSC Annual Report 2019.

These groups keep failing the Civil Superior Service Competitive Examination (CSS CE) and are unable to secure their specific quotas, causing a spike in the overall vacancies.

What do the numbers look like?

The situation in 2019 reached a level where almost half of total CSS posts remained unfilled. In 2019, out of the total 410 vacancies, only 214 appointments were made, while in 2010, the vacancies stood at 271 with 205 appointments made to the civil services, the publication reported.

It added that the total number of vacant posts for 2011 was 285 when the recommended appointments stood at 239. 

For years 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2015, the vacant posts were 252, 266, 315, and 333, while the appointments during those years were 222, 195, 233 and 238, respectively.

In 2016, a total of 191 appointments to the civil services were made, while 351 vacant posts were available. In 2017 and 2018, vacant posts were 484 and 466 and 260 and 278 appointments were made in those two years, respectively.

'Govt should ease criteria for CSS exams for minorities'

The government should ease the criteria for CSS exams for minorities as most of them fall below the poverty line, says Dr Ramesh Kumar, who is an MNA from the PTI.

Dr Ramesh suggested that the government should "largely advertise" the carry forward vacancies across the country belonging to minorities and encourage their participation for better outcomes.

The gap between the vacancies and appointments grew up to 300% during the last 10 years, according to the data available with The News.

The posts advertised for minorities for 2019 were 87 across Pakistan and  only 30 nominations were made for jobs in Pakistan civil services. Fifty-seven posts, however, could not be filled due to non-availability of qualified candidates belonging to minority groups, the FPSC annual report said.

The unfilled posts are carried over to the next year in the same quotas to have their representation in the federal services.

Bureaucrats suggested that people, especially women from Balochistan, Sindh and Gilgit-Baltistan, and minorities communities should be motivated to appear for the CSS-CE so that the quota seats can be filled.