New public sector appointments

[TamilNet, Friday, 05 February 1999, 18:38 GMT]
The North-East province Governor has appointed a retired Director of Education as the Commissioner of the newly created Examination Unit in the Provincial Public Service Commission.

The Examination Unit will conduct provincial level examinations for the recruitment of clerks, stenographers, translators and other categories to fill about five thousand vacancies in the provincial public service.

The vacancies will be filled on a district and ethinic ratio basis, sources said.

The North-east province (NEPC) is divided into eight districts; Jaffna, Killinochchi, Mullaitivu, Mannar,Vavuniya, Trincomalee, Batticaloa and Ampara.

The President, Chandrika Kumaratunge, has instructed the Governor of the province to take immediate steps to fill all these vacancies before the end of June this year, provincial council sources added.

Mr.R.Sundaralingam has assumed duties as the Commissioner of the Examination Unit with effect from February 1.

The public sector is the major employer in the war torn North-eastern province.

Following a recent high court ruling that the cancellation of island wide provincial council elections by the government was illegal, provincial council elections are due to be held in the North-east this year.

Parliamentary and presidential elections are due to be held next year.

Political analysts say that appointments to public sector jobs will boost the popularity of the ruling party and the President.

In the past public sector jobs were given out to boost the party vote as the employee and the employee's immediate family would vote and campaign for the government party's candidate. Those who wanted a public sector job would also campaign for the candidate who promised them such a job.

It is due to this process that many public institutions, especially the banks are over staffed.

Last year the IMF and the World Bank called for a downsizing of many public institutions.

However, certain sectors in the North-east, such as health and education, have been neglected over the past years. In many districts in the North-eastern province there are severe shortages of medical personnel and teachers.